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World Cup E30 000 ticket winner is a Mozambican

05/06/2010 00:00:00 MABANDLA BHEMBE

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MBABANE – Last ditch efforts to have World Cup ticket winner Danana Chicco Mfuma attend the official opening of the global showpiece hit a snag after it emerged that he is not Swazi.

Mfuma, who has missed out on probably his first and last chance of watching one of FIFA’s World Cup games live from a stadium is Mozambican by birth but has lived in the country long enough to be granted a Swazi Identity card (ID).

Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration Mgwagwa Gamedze was touched when he read Mfuma’s predicament where it was reported that he will not be going to South Africa because he failed to get a passport.

Mfuma also failed to acquire an Emergency Passport following its discontinuation by the South African Immigration.

When all this happened, it had not been known that Mfuma was not Swazi thus does not deserve to own a Swazi passport.

"We were keen to issue the gentleman a passport in 30 minutes but the new computer system rejected him. The reason behind his rejection was the fact that he does not qualify to have a Swazi passport as he is not a bona fide Swazi," said Gamedze.

It was highlighted to the minister that Mfuma once owned a Swazi passport and the reason he does not have it now is because it expired.

"I can admit discrepancy from our side. This man was not supposed to be issued with a passport in the first instance. His ID was legally issued but that did not mean he qualified for a Swazi passport. My advice to him is that he must acquire a passport from his home country," said Gamedze.

"Mfumo has been using the Swazi passport illegally. Cases similar to his are not new to the ministry as we have had to decline a number of other foreigners who believed they qualified for Swazi passports since they had IDs. It is not the officials that decline these individuals but it is the new computer system used to issue these bar-coded IDs. Mfuma will have to apply for a travel permit from his country embassy situated in the country if he wants to travel back home," explained Gamedze.

Swaziland Beverages Managing Director Zama Kunene said; "If Mfuma had a valid passport irrespective of his country of origin he would have been eligible to take up his prize as per rule number two of the competition. However since he could not obtain a travel permit he has therefore forfeited his prize and no alternative winner has also been selected to take up his prize."

When reached for comment on how he acquired his passport Mfuma’s comment was "Your call just piles misery and pain on me at the moment. Do not call me."

New IDs for foreigners on the way - Ministry

MBABANE Foreigners living in the country will now be issued with their own colour coded identity cards.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration has already ordered a bunch of these new identity cards from the United Kingdom.

Speaking to Swazi News earlier this week, Gamedze said; "We have since decided to differentiate Swazi IDs from those handed to foreigners living in the country. This has been prompt by the fact that a number of people are finding it hard to differentiate a Swazi and foreigner through their ids because they are similar. By introducing colour coded IDs for foreigners living in the country, this will reduce the problem faced by a number people in differentiating Ids. Although the cards are identical, the code printed at the back of the ID card is currently what is being used by the ministry to determine whether the bearer is a Swazi or not."

Ministry of Home Affairs to issue passports in a week

MBABANE – The banning of local emergency passports by South Africa has prompt the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration to work towards issuing new passports within a week.

Currently, the waiting period for all new passport applications is three weeks.

Speaking to Swazi News this week, Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration Mgwagwa Gamedze stated that his ministry was working towards having the new passports issued sooner than before.

"We are currently working around the clock to reduce the backlog of passports dating back from last year. Once we have covered our grounds, we will then focus at issuing passports to applicants within a week. However in cases that are urgent we are also able to issue new passports within a day to those citizens that have already applied."