Zimbabwe is grappling with a growing shortage of critical materials needed to print birth certificates, national Identity Documents (IDs) and official receipt books, raising concerns over access to essential civil registration services.
The shortage of these civil documents carries far-reaching consequences, leaving both children and adults unable to enrol in school, sit national examinations, secure employment, access banking services or obtain passports respectively, effectively undermining their fundamental rights.
This crisis, confirmed in Parliament on February 11, 2026, has exposed funding bottlenecks within government, with officials acknowledging that consumables required by the Registrar General’s Department are locally produced by Fidelity Printers and Refiners but remain unpaid for.
Fidelity Printers and Refiners, a state-owned entity traditionally associated with printing secure documents and refining precious metals, manufactures the specialised paper used for official civil registration documents.
The shortage came under scrutiny during a tense exchange in the National Assembly, after opposition legislator, Ropafadzo Makumire, demanded answers over the nationwide crisis in issuing civil documents.
“Lack of resources in the Registrar General’s Department for birth certificates and identification cards is something that has gone out of hand,” Makumire said.
“There are no resources, including papers to print birth certificates, receipt books et cetera in the whole of this country. What strategies is the Government putting in place to address this challenge?”
The Registrar General’s Department, which falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, is responsible for registering births and deaths and issuing national identity documents, services that underpin citizenship, voting rights, school enrolment, passport applications and access to social services.
Responding to the concerns, Home Affairs Minister, Kazembe Kazembe, acknowledged the shortage but insisted the government was working to resolve it.
“We have identified the problem and spelt out that we have a shortage of papers to print birth certificates and other consumables,” he said.
“I believe the Ministry of Finance is rectifying that issue because the Registrar General’s Department, if they want money, they go through the Treasury.”
Kazembe suggested the ministry would seek authority to retain a portion of its own revenue in future to avoid similar crises.
“This will enable the Registrar General’s Department to buy such things when they run short. As of now, the money is directed to the Treasury. Now we are engaging the Ministry of Finance to assist us,” he said.
The exchange quickly shifted focus to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, amid accusations that centralised control of revenue was choking service delivery.
Makumire questioned why departments that generate revenue must “beg” the Treasury for operational funds.
“The Minister of Finance has to explain to us why they want these departments to beg from them to get money so that they can do their work, yet their Ministry is depositing money to the Treasury,” he said.
“Why is it that we go up to two months without the paper to print birth certificates?”
Deputy Finance Minister, David Kudakwashe Mnangagwa, defended the Treasury’s processes, outlining how government revenue is collected and distributed.
“97 percent of it comes from tax revenue … income tax, VAT and all those taxes that we pay. That money goes into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Then three percent is the money that comes from non-tax revenues, including Registrar General, ZINARA and other fees that we collect,” Mnangagwa explained.
He said all collected revenue is pooled and allocated according to the national budget passed by Parliament.
“All the money that is collected from ministries is put in the same pot. We do not consider where the money is coming from. That is the money that is used to pay salaries and other things,” he said.
Mnangagwa added revenue collection is typically lower in the first months of the year, limiting immediate disbursements.
“At the beginning of the year, the money is not enough. In the first two to five months we normally generate low revenue to pay what we would have prioritised at the end of the previous year. At the end of the year that is when we will be collecting a lot of money and we will be paying up some of the things that would not have been covered,” he said.
However, another MP, Corban Madzivanyika said it had become clear that bottlenecks lay within the Treasury.
“It has now come out that our problem pertaining to identification cards is emanating from the Ministry of Finance,” he said, arguing that other ministries had reportedly received allocations exceeding 300 percent of their budgets in 2025 while Home Affairs remained constrained.
“Minister, when are you allocating this money so that our people get identification cards and birth certificates?” Madzivanyika asked.
Mnangagwa maintained prioritisation lies with line ministries once funds are allocated.
“The ministries are the ones who look into their priorities and see what is supposed to be paid first,” he said.
“Anything that comes into the Ministry of Finance coffers we will disburse it. We do not keep large sums of money.”
Pressed on when the crisis would end, Mnangagwa did not provide a timeline, saying that disbursements depend on available revenue flows.
Legislator, Tendai Nyabani, suggested universities could be engaged to manufacture the required materials, citing a previous shortage of vehicle number plates that was resolved through local innovation.
Kazembe said the materials in question are already produced locally but payment remains the obstacle.
“These consumables that we are talking about are produced in this country but the person who produces them needs to be paid,” he said.
“The paper that we are talking about is produced by Fidelity but Fidelity has to be paid.”
This prompted Madzivanyika to press when that money would be channeled to the Home Affairs Ministry so people could access their IDs and birth certificates.
“We understand budgetary constraints but when are we going to get this problem solved, considering it is an attack on the human rights of citizens of this country?”
Despite the heated exchanges, the Temporary Speaker ruled that the Finance Ministry had sufficiently responded “that if the money gets to the Treasury, it is going to be distributed.”
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