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Beitbridge Bureau
The Zimbabwe Consulate in Cape Town will reopen for more services on Monday after having suspended other operations at the beginning of the lockdown in South Africa.

Zimbabwe has two consulate offices in South Africa, one in Cape Town and the other in Johannesburg.

The Johannesburg offices resumed operations on August 24. In a public notice yesterday, the Cape Town consulate said more services will be opened up in line with the host Government lockdown protocols.

“We wish to advise the public that consular services will be gradually restored with effect from Monday September 7. The consulate is taking all possible measures to reduce the risk of transmission of the Covid-19 to our valued clients and our staff. In taking these steps we are guided and are compliant to advise given by the South African Government and World Health Organisation,” the notice reads.

Some of the services to be offered by the consulate include temporary travel documents, repatriation documents, passport applications, birth certificate applications, passport cancellation, driver’s licenses authentication, confirmation of marriages and related services. Under the new order, the Cape Town offices will open between 9:30 am and 1pm and all those seeking services will have to make prior bookings on online platforms. The consulate is planning on handling 35 passport applications daily, and will allow just 10 people at a time into the premises.

Since the beginning of the lockdowns in Zimbabwe and South Africa, the Cape Town and Johannesburg consulates were only facilitating repatriation services for returnees, helping them with paper work and transport arrangements to get home, and organising the repatriation of remains. It is understood that on average, remains of 350 Zimbabweans were repatriated through Johannesburg and 33 came through Cape Town since the beginning of lockdown.