Tanzanians are blaming the Chinese Embassy in Dar es Salaam for taking too long to issue them with travel visas.
They say that the process that has, for years, been taking not less than a week, was now consuming more than a month to accomplish.

This comes merely a fortnight after the deputy minister for Industry, Trade and Marketing, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, gave Chinese businessmen operating in the busy Kariakoo market a 30-day ultimatum to leave the area.

Mr Nyalandu told the traders that the government would use force, if necessary, to kick them out.

“We will soon start inspecting business licences to see if all traders are doing what is prescribed in their licences,” the minister had said then.

Tanzanians, who spoke to local The Citizen, during a visit by the latter to the embassy premises, associated what was happening to visa seekers to the stand taken by the deputy minister on illegal Chinese traders.

Might be unhappy

However, the Chinese embassy officials have denied the allegations, saying visa issuance had been going on without any hitches.

“I heard that the government wants to expel all the Chinese operating businesses in the country illegally…The Chinese Government might be unhappy with the treatment of its citizens, that's why they are doing this,” said a woman who refused to give her name.

She said she had been making trips to China frequently and it took just three to four days to process a visa in the past, but this time round, it had taken her more than a month.

The businesswoman revealed that she was incurring losses because her businesses were at a standstill because of the problem.

“I wish this is solved as soon as possible as I don’t have anywhere else to get goods from… I’m used to buying my items of trade in Hong-Kong,” she lamented.

“When I first came here, they told me that my bank statement was incomplete. After I resolved that problem, they told me that my passport photo, which was no different from the one I have been using in the past, was dark,” another applicant explained.

False documents

However, the deputy Head and Political Counsellor of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Mr Fu Jijun, said there was nothing malicious in the delay in issuing visas to Tanzanians, noting that the delays were “normal when applicants are on an increase”.

“It takes four working days to process and issue a visa and we have been giving visas to up to 30 applicants daily,” he said at the embassy.

He said those complaining were people with false documents, noting that there was no way his embassy could give travel documents to people who did not deserve them.

Mr Fu said the relationship between his country and Tanzania was good, citing the recent handover of a school to President Jakaya Kikwete at Msoga area in Bagamoyo as an example.

“Let people follow the laid down procedures… We don’t give visas to people with forged documents to enter our country. It is as simple as that,” said Mr Fu.