Ncube forced to cut proposed passport application fees from US$200 to US$150
By Staff Reporter
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has been forced to reduce proposed application fees for a standard Zimbabwean passport from the initial US$200 to US$150.
This follows an outcry from the public after the Treasury boss hiked the price of the much sought after document to US$200, up from the current US$120.
The new fees, announced in Ncube’s 2024 budget, are with effect from January 1, 2024.
“On passport fees, we have listened carefully to the contributions from the portfolio chairpersons and Hon. Members that the US$200 is on the high side, we agree with that,” he said while speaking in parliament Thursday in a session that stretched up to 1AM Friday.
Ncube added, “Someone proposed that rather than US$120 for an ordinary passport, let us make it US$150. It is a proposal, but for the express passport, the 24-hour passport, anyone who needs it urgently is often those who can afford it.
“That one should be US$250. I know one Honourable Member who proposed US$350, but let us make it US$250 and I think US$250 is okay.”
Ncube was also forced to revise downwards road toll fees by 50 percent.
In his 2024 budget statement, Ncube had proposed to more than double tollgate fees from US$2 to US$5 or equivalent for light vehicles on what he called “premium roads” – Harare to Beitbridge and Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare.
This would have seen a return trip from Harare to Bulawayo with a family sedan costing US$50 at tollgates.
On other roads, toll fees were to go up by 100 percent from US$2 to US$4 for light motor vehicles. The minister has now fixed that at US$3.
