OVER 400 TRAVEL DOCUMENTS UNCOLLECTED

MBABANE – While the country has been battling the shortage of travel documents and passports, over 400 of these are lying idle, uncollected by applicants, at the Ministry of Home Affairs offices.

The ministry’s Acting Chief Immigration Officer, Sandile Mazibuko, revealed that around 445 travel documents from two service centres had not been collected by the people who applied for them. Mazibuko stated that a total of 365 travel documents were uncollected at the Mbabane Headquarters, while 80 were at the Pigg’s Peak service centre. Some of the travel documents have not been collected by their owners since 2022. Mazibuko said the issue of uncollected travel documents was not unique to the two offices, but all Home Affairs service centres were facing the same challenge.

The uncollected travel documents robbed a number of emaSwati who desperately needed travel documents, but could not have them at the time of making the application. Noteworthy, the country’s shortage of travel documents became serious during the 2023 festive season. EmaSwati were seen queueing outside the headquarters for days, without getting assistance. Some were compelled to obtain the E500 travel documents, yet they only required the cheaper ones. “We have 10 more other service centres with the same problem but we do not have the statistics yet. Despite all the challenges faced by the ministry, we have many travel documents that have not been collected by their owners. We do not know the reasons why they abandon their travel documents after applying for them,” said Mazibuko.

The acting chief immigration officer further said government spent a lot of money producing the documents, only for the applicants to abandon them. Inasmuch as emaSwati paid for the travel documents, it should be noted that government pays much more as the prices are subsidised. “Government subsidises the pricing of travel documents. EmaSwati pay a small portion of the money for such documents, while the rest comes from government. It costs government a lot of money to process applicants’ particulars, before producing the passports,” Mazibuko said.

He said the non-collection of travel documents posed a threat, as their personal information could fall into the wrong hands. He said once that happened, some criminals would start producing fake travel documents or passports. In trying to sort the issue of not collecting travel documents, Mazibuko said the ministry was on a mission to raise awareness by calling upon all the applicants to come and collect their travel documents. During Sibaya, some members of the public complained about long queues, more especially at the Home Affairs Headquarters. Some criticised the staff for allegedly being rude.

On Wednesday, the ministry announced the arrival of a new stock of travel documents and international passports. The Minister of Home Affairs Princess Lindiwe, said the long-awaited restocking would facilitate efficient and timely service delivery to the citizens of the country.

Dedication

The minister said in line with the development and their dedication to improve service delivery, all service centres across the country, as well as selected tinkhundla centres, would commence operations, starting from Wednesday (February 14, 2024) to provide prompt and reliable services to the public. She further requested the public to visit their nearest service centres or tinkhundla centres to apply for their travel documents.  “As always, we advise citizens to come prepared with the required documentation and to follow the prescribed guidelines and procedures to ensure a smooth and seamless application process,” she said.

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