adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The number of people seeking assistance from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) after being deported from South Africa by road through Beitbridge border post dropped by 28 percent last year.IOM has a reception and support centre in Beitbridge where it provides post-return humanitarian assistance to deportees so that they do not become stranded and are vulnerable after entering the country.
It also helps the deportees with food and temporary shelter for unaccompanied minors.
IOM programme manager Sam Grundy said between January and December last year they offered assistance to 18,368 people who had been deported from South Africa, down from 27,509 who were assisted in 2013.
Those who were deported had overstayed in South Africa, had no travel documents while others had finished serving jail terms for various offences committed in that country. “The majority of the migrants assisted are 25 years and older,” said Grundy.
The total number of people who were deported from South Africa last year could not be established from the Department of Immigration, but sources at the border post said the figure stood at about 25,000, down from 29,000 sent home in 2013.
The Chronicle is reliably informed that 385,483 deportees were assisted at the IOM reception centre in Beitbridge between 2006 and 2013 while 179,570 from Botswana were assisted at the Plumtree Reception and Support Centre between 2008 and 2013.
On average, each of the two countries deport between 80 and 100 Zimbabweans for violating immigration laws per day. Deportations from Botswana and South Africa have been dropping due to the improved access to travel documents and the improving economy in the country after 2008.
Online Reporter