The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) and the Registrar General Clement Masango swords after the latter accused the commission for lacking objectivity and professionalism.
The Registrar General Masango took aim at the independent body which he said lacked professionalism and objectivity after commenting on issues which he said were still under investigations.
The tiff between the two parties development after ZHRC, led by Elasto Mugwadi summoned Masango to respond to several allegations by stranded citizens facing challenges in accessing national documents such as birth certificates, national identity cards and passports.
Mugwadi cited corruption as one major undoing factor which he said his commission and the Registrar’s office must work together to address.
“Our President always talk about zero tolerance to corruption and on that area i think we need to work together with the Registrar General so that we can deal with it once and for all,” said Mr Mugwadi adding that it is one among the challenges the RG’s office is facing.
“We are experiencing long queues and we do not want to add insult to that by engaging into corruption. The situation is critical,” he said.
Some of the allegations ZHRC said were made against the Department of the Registrar General include corruption, arrogance, dereliction of duty among others.
However, Mr Masango accused ZHRC of conducting the inquiry with a pre-conceived motive and that he could not give substantive responses as in his view, the commission had already made conclusions given media reports some of the commissioners were making against his department.
Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe also touring the Registrar General’s offices.
Passports processing has been a topical issue in Zimbabwe as many travellers are having challenges to acquire for the documents. Only yesterday, the government increased prices of acquiring passports with the cheapest now going for $1000.
