By Rungano Dzikira

In the wake of COVID-19, the Zimbabwean Government is facilitating passage for the repatriation of Zimbabweans seeking to come back home from the United Arab Emirates (UAE.)

According to a letter addressed to Clemence Mangwana, the Leadership Team of Zimbabwe in the UAE, the voluntary repatriation is scheduled for June 13, 2020 via Ethiopian airways.

“The Ethiopian Airlines has agreed to repatriate stranded Zimbabwean nationals, to Harare on Saturday, 13th of June 2020.  The Airline has indicated that the Zimbabweans can begin paying the airfares (AED5000) with effect from today at its offices in Dubai,” read the letter.

Further to that, the Ethiopian Airlines has requested for names and passport details of people intending to be repatriated, to be submitted to the Embassy since this process is being done in liaison with the Zimbabwean Embassy.

“Those who have not yet registered their names for the repatriation process should urgently submit their first names, surnames, National ID and passport numbers to the Embassy at عنوان البريد الإلكتروني هذا محمي من روبوتات السبام. يجب عليك تفعيل الجافاسكربت لرؤيته.” it said.

Likewise copies of the bio data page of the passport are being requested, while persons who had previously registered for their travel though lack capacity to pay for the air ticket were also advised to inform the Embassy.

The Zimbabwean Government is currently working with other governments to facilitate the voluntary and safe repatriation of their citizens from different countries which has seen an influx of returnees from Botswana, South Africa, China, UK among other countries.