via Mudede clears air on ‘ID passports’ | The Herald 24 July 2014
Registrar-GENERAL Mr Tobaiwa Mudede yesterday said his call for use of machine-readable biometric identity cards to cross borders was not meant to replace passports as an international travel document. He said in a statement that the proposal was meant to assist communities within borders, particularly in Beitbridge, whenever they wanted to cross into neighbouring countries to buy groceries and return on the same day.
Mr Mudede was responding to a NewsDay report yesterday under the headline “Mudede wants plastic IDs as passports”.
In the article, the paper reported that Mr Mudede told parliamentarians visiting Makombe Building in Harare on Tuesday that the security features on the Zimbabwean ID cards made up of polythene and synthetic material were better than those on passports.
The paper further said Mr Mudede told the legislators that IDs could be used alongside passports as travel documents because they were machine-readable at the highly computerised ports of entry.
“In the past, these people (living along borders) used to be issued with border passes to cross into the neighbouring country to buy basic commodities and return the same day,” said Mr Mudede.
The NewDay story had given the impression that Mr Mudede was calling for people to be allowed to use national IDs as travel documents in the absence of passports.
“However, in 2010, when the South Africa government hosted the 2010 World Cup it stopped accepting all travel documents which are not classified as passports. This affected some Sadc countries.”
The RG’s Office, said Mr Mudede, mooted the idea of engaging the South African government and others to discuss permitting Zimbabwean identity card holders to cross into neighbouring countries to buy basic necessaries and return to the country the same day.
The NewDay story had given the impression that Mr Mudede was calling for people to be allowed to use national IDs as travel documents in the absence of passports.
COMMENTS
The best way for Mudede to clear the air is to shut up
Mudede sir, may I ask, Why should people cross the border to buy basic necessities at a time when the Zim economy is booming? You should actually be inviting your neighbours to come and buy from Zimbabwe and not the other way. You and Mugabe must be seeing things differently from the ‘spectacles’ that you are wearing.You guys have failed in all spheres, accept and ship out.
No groceries are allowed into Zim you have to pay duty.
Less talking and more thinking Mudede.
Yes u guys u are just the leaders not of a nation but of corruption and all sots of bad behaving when it comes to country’s welthy and u have touhgt every Zimbabwean to be corruptive
Aa yaa