Ziyah News Reporter
A recent scandal involving the Zimbabwean passport office has thrown a spotlight on the persistent issue of corruption within the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
Police have arrested eight employees of the Registrar General’s department following the interception of four Cameroonian nationals at Beitbridge, attempting to enter South Africa with freshly issued Zimbabwean passports.
The arrested individuals, including Romeo Shonhiwa, Marrian Roman, and Tanaka Magaya, have been charged with criminal abuse of office for their roles in the fraudulent issuance of passports.
The Cameroonians, who were found with passports bearing Shona names despite not speaking the language, had reportedly paid $1,500 each to acquire the documents through dubious means.
Investigations reveal that the four suspects first obtained birth certificates in Mount Darwin before falsely claiming to have lost their identity documents at the Market Square registry office in Harare. They then approached the passport office, where they paid $170 each for ordinary passports that were processed in just two days instead of the usual seven, hinting at a well-orchestrated racket involving officials and cleaners at the office.
With police now investigating additional parties potentially involved in this latest scheme, the Ministry of Home Affairs faces increasing pressure to address the underlying information deficits that contribute to such corruption as some Zimbabweans.