adminZimbabweans used to be required to have visas to travel to South Africa and that was religiously adhered to in spite of the bureaucratic bottlenecks that tended to promote illegal movement across borders. The scrapping of the visa requirements seemed in line with regional integration initiatives and Zimbabweans were now travelling with less hassles to South Africa, save for the sporadic job action and delays at the South African border.
Zimbabwe for a long time struggled to produce enough passports for its restless citizens who sought greener pastures during serious economic challenges in the country and resorted to printing emergency travel documents that other countries accepted though South Africa refused to embrace the document hence turned away many travellers.
The matter had to be discussed at ministerial level.
The latest travel nightmare has seen scores of Zimbabwean women travelling with minor children stranded at Beitbridge Border Post since immigration authorities in South Africa are now demanding affidavits to accompany the children’s passports.
Apparently, a parent or guardian intending to travel to South Africa in the company of minor children is now required to produce an affidavit signed by the other parent or both parents in the case of those travelling with a guardian before the child’s passport is stamped by the neighbouring country’s immigration officials.
The document is reportedly required for children below the age of 17.
Scores of mothers have reportedly been turned away as they could not be allowed entry into South Africa without the required document for their minor children.
While it is well within the South African government’s rights to make and enforce regulations as and when it sees fit, we believe it is also crucial for authorities in that country to improve their communication in order to reduce the inconvenience to travellers.
We believe that the introduction of the new requirements was necessitated by noble intentions that could be related to the fight against child trafficking. However, it is our view that ambushing documented travellers at the border could force them to go underground and rely on the many syndicates used to get children across the border illegally. This would achieve the very opposite of our original intention of curbing child trafficking. We believe the two governments should handle the issue and ensure that our people’s right to free movement is not unnecessarily curtailed by the new requirements. We have instances of single parents, widowed parents and those that for one reason or another cannot locate the father or mother of their children yet they may need to travel across the border on holiday with their children during the school holidays. Surely, there should be a way of accommodating all these people in a manner that is not discriminatory and laborious.
We applaud the initiative by Zimbabwean transporters who now insist on the affidavits from travellers with minor children to avoid a situation where they could be turned back at the border and incur unplanned expenses.
Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi said the issue had not been discussed at their level though he speculated it could be aimed at curbing trafficking. We would like to urge the minister to come to the aid of our people by engaging his South African counterpart so that Zimbabweans are not inconvenienced at our borders. If communicated clearly, we believe there should be a way of prior clearing of travellers that would guarantee that they would not be turned back at the border.
Online Reporter