Chronicle Editor
From Thupeyo Muleya in Musina, South Africa
SOUTH Africa yesterday deployed 200 border guards to help patrol the borderline as the neighbouring country in conjunction with Zimbabwe continue stepping up efforts to fight organised cross-border crimes along the Limpopo River.
Prevalent crimes along the border include border jumping and smuggling of prohibited goods through undesignated entry and exit points.
Government is losing millions of dollars in potential revenue as unrelenting smugglers and border jumpers continue escalating their illegal activities on the Zimbabwe-South Africa border.
Stakeholders from the two countries recently introduced a regional enforcement committee tasked with curbing cases relating to irregular migration.
A team comprising key stakeholders led by the Department of Immigration has lately been intercepting about 200 smugglers and border jumpers on a daily basis. Border guards will complement security agents from both Zimbabwe and South Africa in terms of patrolling the borderline which is synonymous with criminal activities.
Border jumping, touting, the use of fake immigration stamps and travel documents are some of the common crimes at Beitbridge Border Post. The border guards fall under the newly established Border Management Authority (BMA). South Africa deployed some of the guards to its borders with Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini, which have been classified as hotspots for cross-border crimes.
Acting Regional Immigration Officer-in-charge (Beitbridge-Zimbabwe), Mr Trustworthy Manatsire said they were working with other border agencies to restore sanity at the border.
“We have been recording positive results since the formation of the enforcement committee. On average we have been intercepting between 150 and 200 people involved in various crimes along the border,” he said.
“Within the border, we are targeting vendors, touts, vagrants, and undocumented immigrants and migrants at all known hotspots and areas where they frequent”.
Mr Manatsire said they have identified at least 15 common illegal crossing points where smuggling and the irregular movement of people are rife.
Lately, the smuggling of contrabands such as cigarettes, livestock and stolen vehicles and border jumping have been on the rise along the Limpopo River.
Security agents from both countries have intensified joint border patrols and made substantial arrests.
In the last 12 months, more than 30 people have been nabbed for smuggling vehicles stolen from South Africa. Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe recently said the Government was concerned about the leakages of gold, among other precious stones, which prejudices the country of US$100 million every month.
The gold is being smuggled out of the country through porous borders with the Government now in the process of rolling out measures to plug the leakages.
Gold is the country’s biggest foreign currency earner. Last year, the country earned US$946m from US$1,3bn in 2018 from exports of the metal.
Some of the measures that the Government is working on to plug the leakages include installing a sophisticated computerised system at the country’s border posts and airports which will be able to detect illegal activities.
Treasury also intends to procure 500 police vehicles as part of a raft of measures to help fight crime and improve efficiency in terms of policing and fighting corruption among other illegal activities. Mr Manatsire said the deployment of more security personnel by South Africa will help beef up security and complement their ongoing crackdown on illegal activities.
He said the national security task force that had been deployed by Zimbabwe had helped contain increased crime along the Limpopo River.
“We are determined to make the transformed border one of the best crime-free facilities. It is pleasing to note that our neighbours have also made a commitment towards that direction by deploying more manpower,” he said.
Speaking during a ceremony to unveil the first cohort of 200 BMA border guards in Musina, South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said they will be working hand in hand with their soldiers.
He said the newly-recruited members of the Border Guard were carefully selected and trained, with special emphasis on fitness and physical assessment.
Dr Motsoaledi said a lifestyle audit was also carried out to minimise cases of corruption.
“While the broader integration process is underway, this cohort will be tactically deployed at the identified five vulnerable segments of the borderline, working together with members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF),” he said.
“The BMA, which is South Africa’s new single authority for border management with a single command and control, was established through the Border Management Authority Act of 2020”.
Dr Motsoaledi said the BMA is operating as a section under his ministry and is set to be weaned off in April next year.
The minister said the process will involve the integration of five streams of functions performed by various government departments in that country.
These include, Home Affairs; Forestry, Fisheries and Environment; Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and Health, which carry out access control functions conducted by police at the ports of entry. – @tupeyo
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