HOME Affairs Minister, Lebona Lephema, has revealed that his ministry does not have enough money to produce passports and Identity Documents (IDs). Lephema made the revelation on Tuesday as he was quizzed by the parliament’s Law and Public Safety committee over his ministry’s perennial failure to provide passports and IDs.
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The minister’s candid answers show that the passport and ID crisis is likely to continue this year unless the ministry is allocated more money.
The ministry was allocated M457.8 million for the current year.
Lephema said the budget allocation is enough to produce only 60 000 passports but they need 150 000 passports. He said the ministry needs an additional M40 million to produce enough passports.
The Director of Passports, Mpiko Rafono, also told the committee that the ministry had 47 034 new passport applications and 31 000 unprinted passports.
Rafono said they are expecting 179 000 identity card renewals this year for people who got them in 2014 and the new applicants who turn 16 this year.
“We have a serious problem with our budget that is inadequate,” Rafono said, adding that the ministry last procured blank IDs in 2022 and they didn’t buy any last year.
Lephema said apart from budget constraints the ministry also had problems with Pangea IT, the Israeli company working as a middleman between the government and the supplier of blank passports.
He said he asked the company to allow the government to communicate directly with the passport manufacturer.
“After they allowed us we then encountered another problem,” he said.
“The company (manufacturer) refused our letter of credit, demanding cash up front.”
“We all know it was impossible.”
Lephema said the lack of funds forced the ministry to buy only a fraction of the blank passports it needs. The minister’s admission comes as thousands of Basotho face a frustrating wait for passports and IDs. Some have been waiting for the past six months.
The ministry has said it is only processing emergency passports.
Yet for many Basotho a passport is almost always urgent. Some need it to work in South Africa while others are travelling for studies. There have been cases of Basotho failing to travel to South Africa for medical treatment because they could not get passports.
So while the ministry is failing to clear the backlog of passports it has not stopped taking new applications every day. This means the backlog is mounting.
Some people have reported waiting nearly two months to get emergency passports.
Nkheli Liphoto
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