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South Africa resumed the deportations of Zimbabwean illegal immigrants last year in October after having initially suspended the exercise in April 2009.
This was after the neighbouring country had introduced a moratorium on the deportation of Zimbabweans granting them a special dispensation for a year so that they could regularise their stay in that country.
“We have over the last 12 months handled 42 940 Zimbabweans who were deported from South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post. On average our statistics indicate that we receive between 200 and 300 deportees daily and most of them would have been brought in from Lindela in Johannesburg,” he said.
The largest number of deportations in a day was recorded on 5 December last year when 672 Zimbabweans were rounded up in Limpopo and Gauteng provinces.
Chief Supt Chinhengo said the highest monthly figure was recorded in June when 4 460 illegal immigrants were brought home.
Last month saw the least number of 2 967 deportees.
Chief Supt Chinhengo said several border jumpers were taking advantage of the drop in water levels in Limpopo River to illegally cross the border through undesignated entry points.
He, however, said they had intensified patrols along the border with their South African counterparts.
“We have realised that many people are capitalising on the drop in water levels to illegally cross the
Limpopo River into South Africa. We have therefore increased our joint night border patrols with South African police to reduce border jumping and other crimes such as smuggling and robberies occurring along the border area,” he said.
Chief Supt Chinhengo said because of the intensified patrols, they had between January and October recorded a 76 percent decline in robberies along the Limpopo River compared to the same period last year.
“We continue to warn people against irregular migration, as they risk prosecution and being attacked by robbers who operate in bushy areas along the river,” he said.
Chief Supt Chinhengo expressed concern over the continuous haphazard deportation of ex-convicts, saying it fuelled crime in the border town.
“South African authorities are supposed to deport ex-convicts separately but sadly we continue to receive them under a mixed batch and that is now a major challenge for us when it comes to screening.
“They are supposed to be vetted first and then categorised accordingly because some of them would have been on our wanted list and they end up engaging in criminal activities and fuelling crime in Beitbridge,” he said.
On arrival in the country, the returnees are received by the immigration authorities at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Beitbridge Reception and Support Centre (BRSC) who vet them to ascertain whether they are bona fide Zimbabweans.
Soon after that process, they are then further vetted by police before being taken to the IOM which offers them overnight accommodation, medication, food and transport to proceed to their homes.
The IOM centre has the capacity to accommodate 600 people at any given time.
However, some of the deportees turn down any form of assistance from the IOM and those who opt to go home using their own means are released.
Others cross back into South Africa illegally through undesignated entry points.
The assistant regional immigration manager-in-charge of Beitbridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede, said the majority number of deportees were those repatriated from Lindelani Holding Centre.
Online Reporter