Zimbabwe: Government reverses CBZ passport deal, scraps US$20 application fee
Published: 7/Jan/2022
Source: Newsday (Harare)
BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA
GOVERNMENT has scrapped the US$20 electronic passport (e-passport) application fee following a public outcry over its controversial decision to award CBZ Bank the monopoly to process the application fees.
Government last year gazetted Statutory Instrument (SI) 273 of 2021 to introduce the new e-passport pegged at US$100, with an extra passport application fee of US$20 that was to be processed at CBZ Bank only.
The decision to award CBZ the sole right to process passport fees was also made without subjecting the process to tender.
Yesterday, Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe gazetted SI 3 of 2022 to rescind its earlier decision to charge the US$20 application fee from passport seekers.
But under the new statutory instrument, the gazetted fees for both the ordinary and emergency passports will remain the same.
“It is hereby notified that the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage , has in terms of section 22 of the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act [Chapter 4:01], made the following regulations: These regulations may be cited as the Citizenship (Passport Fees) Regulations, 2022. The fees payable for obtaining one’s passport shall be (a) passport issued on non-emergency US$100 (b) emergency passport US$200.”
Read further: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2022/01/government-reverses-cbz-passport-deal-scraps-us20-application-fee/