Immigration gears up for Easter

Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Border authorities here have come up with a raft of measures to deal with cases of child smuggling between Zimbabwe and South Africa during the forthcoming Easter holiday.

Assistant regional immigration officer-in-charge of Beitbridge Mr Nqobile Ncube said they had created a special compliance unit to monitor and deal with the smuggling of undocumented minors, which was common during most public and school holidays.

He said they had also put in place a plan to facilitate the smooth flow of thousands of people and vehicles during the Easter holiday.

“We have created a special compliance unit that will be focusing on child smuggling activities in and around Beitbridge,” said Mr Ncube.

“The team has the mandate to bring to account all child smugglers, while ensuring that such minors are kept in safe custody pending reunification with their bona fide parents.

“At the same time we want to make a special appeal to parents intending to travel with their children during this holiday to make sure they carry valid passports and other requisite documents.

“These include an unbridged birth certificate (showing both names of father and mother of the child) and necessary affidavits, where one of the parents is travelling with the child.”

Mr Ncube warned parents against leaving their children with child smugglers, some of whom were dangerous criminals.

He said all the departments’ operations at the port of entry would be guided by the border efficiency and management plan to facilitate a smooth flow of traffic.

Mr Ncube said they had agreed in principle with their South African counterparts to harmonise operations as a way of improving efficiency.

“We have set the peak period between 27 March and 5 April and all departments have suspended off days and leave for their staff,” he said. “In some cases there will be merging of shifts, while other organisations will bring in relief staff from less busy stations.

“In addition, the police will enforce the law and order within the 100 metres operational area to keep out border vendors, touts, beggars and criminals.”

Mr Ncube said traffic has been separated into buses, returning residents, visitors, transit, motorist and commercial. He said more service points were being put in place outside the main immigration hall.

Mr Ncube said though they were anticipating an increase in human and vehicular traffic the situation was still manageable.

The Herald is reliably informed that during off peak periods, a total of 15 000 people use the border daily inclusive of arrival and departures, the number rises to 35 000 at peak.

It is understood that a total of 170 000 people, 2 100 buses, 14 000 to 15 000 haulage trucks and 25 000 private cars pass through the border per month.