adminMashudu Netsianda Senior Reporter
SOUTH African immigration authorities last year deported 28,738 undocumented Zimbabweans through the Beitbridge Border Post, marking a 21 percent drop.In 2012, Zimbabwe’s southern neighbour disgorged 36,438 at Beitbridge.
Officials say the sharp decline in deportations has largely been a result of the improved accessibility of travel documents and scrapping of South African visa requirements.
Charles Gwede, the assistant regional immigration manager in charge of Beitbridge Border Post, said routine joint border patrols by Zimbabwean and South African security forces also contributed to a decrease in border jumping along the Limpopo River.
“Last year between January and December, we handled 28,738 Zimbabweans who were deported from South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post, which is a drop compared to 36, 438 during the same period in 2012,” Gwede said.
“We believe this declining trend is largely due to intensified border patrols as well as passports which are now easy to acquire unlike in the past.
“On average, our statistics indicate that we receive between 80 and 100 deportees daily and most of them would have been brought in from Lindela Detention Centre in Johannesburg.”
However, in the past immigration authorities used to handle between 300 and 500 deportees every day. South Africa resumed the deportation of Zimbabwean illegal immigrants in October 2011 after having initially suspended the exercise in April 2009.
Authorities there issued an ultimatum for those without proper documents to regularise their stay or face deportation, but just over 275,000 Zimbabweans heeded the call.
Gwede said most of the deportees were ex-convicts and those who fell foul of immigration laws in that country.
“As immigration authorities we would like to warn people against irregular migration as they risk being arrested as well as being mugged by criminals operating along the Limpopo River,” said Gwede.
South Africa has so far deported 71, 678 Zimbabweans since it resumed the exercise on October 7, 2011. On arrival in the country, the deportees are received by the immigration authorities at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Beitbridge Reception and Support Centre (BRSC) who vet them to ascertain whether they are bona fide Zimbabweans.
After the process, the deportees are further vetted by police before being taken to IOM, which offers them overnight accommodation, medication, food and transport to proceed to their respective homes.
The IOM centre has the capacity to accommodate 600 people at any given time. However, some of the deportees turn down any form of assistance from the IOM and those who opt to go home using their own means are released.
Others cross back into South Africa illegally through undesignated entry points.
Online Reporter