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Simon Ndlovu, who is now nursing injuries at Beitbridge District Hospital, told Chronicle that the incident occurred on Friday at about 4pm.
He was in the company of three others.
“I was travelling with three other men who are Zimbabweans and when we arrived at the illegal crossing point, we got into the Limpopo River and started swimming and on reaching the deep end that is when I was attacked by a huge crocodile.
“It grabbed my left leg and started pulling me towards the deeper end of the river and I wrestled with it. When I realised that it was overpowering me that is when I pulled out my knife and stabbed it in the nose and the deadly reptile released me,” he said.
Ndlovu’s colleagues did not make efforts to rescue him and instead went to the nearby Parks and Wildlife Management Authority offices where they reported the matter.
Ndlovu was ferried to the hospital in an ambulance.
He sustained a fractured leg following the attack.
During Chronicle’s visit Ndlovu was groaning continuosly on his hospital bed.
He had fresh bleeding wounds on his leg and part of his flesh on the left thigh was torn by the crocodile.
This is not the first time for such incidents to occur in the border town.
Most border jumpers continue to risk their lives by crossing the crocodile infested Limpopo River. Several of them have in the past either been killed by the deadly reptiles or left with permanent injuries.
Recently, an 11-year-old Beitbridge boy was killed by a crocodile while swimming in Limpopo River while his friends watched helplessly.
The provincial police spokesperson for Matabeleland South, Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe, warned border jumpers against using undesignated entry points to cross the border into South Africa.
“As police, we continue to handle several cases of people, mostly border jumpers, being attacked by crocodiles while trying to cross into South Africa. We therefore would like to urge people to desist from doing so as they put their lives at risk.
“In fact, border jumping is an offence and we warn those involved in this practice that they also risk being prosecuted,” said the police spokesperson.
Insp Dzirutwe said they would today embark on an awareness campaign to conscientise people about the dangers of using undesignated entry points to cross the border.
Bunjiwe Mkwananzi