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into South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post.
The children’s ages range between four and 12 years.
The operator was arrested on Sunday at around 5pm following the interception of his vehicle, a South African-registered Nissan Hardbody pick-up, at a road block mounted near Malala area along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo highway.
On searching the vehicle police discovered that there were travellers on board who were being illegally transported to South Africa.
The officer commanding police in Beitbridge District, Chief Superintendent Lawrence Chinhengo confirmed the arrest.
“We arrested a Bulawayo man for attempting to smuggle a group of 29 border jumpers into South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post. There were five adults and 24 children who did not have travel documents.
“The suspect was arrested by our officers who had mounted a roadblock along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo road,” he said.
The children were taken back to Bulawayo.
Chief Supt Chinhengo warned people against approaching omalayitsha to assist them to smuggle their children, saying it was risky.
“As police we will continue to fight the smuggling of, especially children, into South Africa through Beitbridge.
“We would like to warn Zimbabweans based in South Africa against approaching omalayitsha to help them smuggle their children. In fact, we continue to urge people to use the legal channels of acquiring travel documents,” he said.
Recently a 32-year-old Bulawayo-based malayitsha was arrested for attempting to smuggle a group of border jumpers, among them 21 undocumented children.
He was spotted by South African police while loading the border jumpers into his kombi near Musina leading to his arrest.
The border jumpers were then taken to the South African Home Affairs Department who later handed them over to the Zimbabwean authorities.
Soon after arriving in Beitbridge, omalayitsha normally help border jumpers cross the border into South Africa through undesignated entry points along the crocodile-infested Limpopo River.
Omalayitsha then drive to the South African side where they pick up the border jumpers before ferrying them to their destinations for fees ranging between R300 and R1 500.
Online Reporter