Online Reporter
Herald Correspondent
AT least 1 521 Zimbabweans have been successfully repatriated through Beitbridge Border Post as a massive documentation and repatriation rush intensifies ahead of the June 30 deadline.
In a statement, Commissioner of the Border Management Authority (BMA), Dr Michael Masiapato, confirmed that the Zimbabweans were processed across 26 buses between June 12 and June 24.
Dr Masiapato further noted that during the same period, the BMA also processed 6 709 Malawian nationals travelling on 112 buses.
More Zimbabweans are converging at Zimbabwe’s consulate in preparation for repatriation back home.
In Cape Town, eNCA reported that the number of Zimbabweans converging at the country’s consulate seeking urgent documentation and emergency shelter had increased from around 1 000 to 3 000 people.
Gift of the Givers reported a sharp spike in the number of citizens seeking assistance over the past fortnight.
“When our teams were busy with humanitarian relief, we saw that the numbers went from close to a thousand people to close to three thousand people coming to seek shelter there, coming to get their documents to be repatriated back home,” said Gift of the Givers representative Ali Sablay.
Some of the Zimbabweans are now being moved to the Department of Home Affairs Repatriation Centre in Epping for processing.
In his address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday last week, ahead of nationwide protests called by anti-immigrant groups on June 30, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for calm and warned that the enforcement of immigration laws remains the responsibility of the State and not of private citizens.
“We have also said that responsibility for enforcing our laws rests with the State, and that no individual may stop any person, demanding documentation or proof of identity or nationality,” he said.
President Ramaphosa said South Africa remained committed to upholding human rights and protecting all people within its borders.
“There is no place for sexism, xenophobia, Afrophobia, or any other form of intolerance,” he said.
