The Department of Passports in the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police has urged all Basotho who have made applications for passports to collect them at the passport offices in their respective districts.

Speaking in an interview with the Agency on Tuesday, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, Mr. Tumelo Raboletse said between December 2022 and January 2023, many Basotho applied for passports but failed to collect them to date.

He said there are over 5000 passports in Maseru, which have been printed but not collected by their owners.

He noted that to control the application of passports, the department is currently charging about M630 to applicants seeking express passports.

The Minister of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, Mr. Lebona Lephema revealed that the ministry is on the edge of implementing an e-governance system that will help the ministry to trace the issued passports to bar people from acquiring passports while they still have them (passports).

He, therefore, pleaded with Basotho to take pride in their national identification documents to avoid having them in the wrong hands.

The Department of Passport Services constitutes an integral part of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It has ten passport offices based in the ten administrative districts and two satellite offices found at Mt. Moorosi in Quthing and Semonkong in Maseru.

The mandate of the department is to facilitate the movement of the people through issuance of travel documents (passports).

 Source: LENA 21/08/2023