From Thupeyo Muleya in Beitbridge
Scores of Zimbabweans wishing to travel to South Africa for Christmas shopping are stranded at Beitbridge Border Post as South African immigration officials are turning away everyone using Emergency Travel Documents.
The Home Affairs Department officials started turning away Zimbabweans on Tuesday night arguing that their travel documents were tampered with and needed to be authenticated by their counterparts in Zimbabwe.
The ETDs, some of them valid for 21 days, were altered and five more months added and signed for by Zimbabwean authorities.
However, hundreds of ETD holders were stranded at the border post by yesterday afternoon and had to be referred to the Beitbridge District Administrator for assistance.
Some travellers from as far as Hurungwe, Mutare, Kariba, Bulawayo and Marondera had to return to their respective homes disillusioned, while others waited patiently at the DA’s office for help.
In separate interviews yesterday, the affected travellers said before the scrapping of the visa requirement to visit SA, ETDs were validated for three weeks or three months and were adjusted in line with the new system.
South Africa scrapped visa requirements for Zimbabweans wishing to either visit or work in the country in May this year.
Prior to this, they were required to produce traveller’s cheques worth R2 000 and an invitation letter from their host in that country. The limit of 30 days for a visitor was increased to three months following the removal of visas.
In light of this, the Zimbabwean Government revalidated ETDs to a period of six months.
"It boggles the mind. All of a sudden we are being turned away at this border when we have been travelling using the same documents all along. We were turned away yesterday together with my sister on our way to Musina.
"The immigration officers in South Africa are saying ETDs from Zimbabwe should be adjusted using a computer, not by hand. Hundreds of people are still being turned away. We are now appealing to authorities to intervene otherwise this will spoil our holidays," said Miss Nyadzisai Shonhai of Rutenga in Masvingo Province.
She said they were saddened by this development as the Zimbabwe immigration officers had cleared them and said the documents were valid and recognised in the immigration statutory instruments.
Miss Shonhai said they were still waiting for the Zimbabwean Government to resolve the issue with its South African counterpart.
In an interview soon after meeting the travellers, Home Affairs Co-Minster Kembo Mohadi said Government was engaging South Africa over the issue.
"I have since tasked the Home Affairs Permanent Secretary to liaise with the South African government over the issue. We hope the issue will be addressed as soon as possible so that we don’t spoil our citizens’ holidays.
"You will realise that at the footnote of the ETD, we had indicated by print that it was valid for 21 days. However when the South Africans scrapped visa requirements for us and extended
the period of stay, we decided to adjust from 21 days to six months.
"We had already printed a number of batches in stock with the choice of altering the validity period by hand and authenticating them with the Registrar-General’s stamp.
"We are not sure why they decided to turn away people now yet they had been accepting them in that state since May this year?" he said. Cde Mohadi added that his ministry was working flat out to reduce the passport backlog.
"We hope to clear the passport backlog very soon to ensure that our people have proper travel documents," he said.
The delay in the processing of passport applications has resulted in the increased number of illegal migration by Zimbabweans to several countries, chief among them South Africa and Botswana.
The developments come hardly a few months after South Africa turned away Zimbabwean travellers with ETDs issued in Bulawayo and Gweru following reports that a number of them had been stolen from the Gweru Passport Office and found their way to Bulawayo. The ban was lifted after the Zimbabwean Government submitted specimens of authentic ETDs from the passport office.
published by , The herald 18 December 200o9
www.herald.co.zw
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