Risking life, limb at Beitbridge

Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge Bureau
There has been a recent upsurge in irregular migration (commonly known as border jumping) between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
People skipping the border to either country has been going on since time immemorial, though a few people care about the risks associated with this.

Hardly a week passes by without someone being reported to have been mugged or robbed by criminals, who operate along the corridor with an estimated 200 illegal crossing points along the Limpopo River.
An estimated average of five women are raped quarterly by criminals on the banks of the Limpopo, during the trek Down South. Despite the risks of drowning in the river, robberies, rape, murder and attacks by wild animals, border jumping remains alive.
The police and army from both countries have on several occasions carried out joint operations and random raids to reduce the scourge of border jumping. Furthermore, task teams have toured the border post countless times to suggest a cocktail of measures to stop border jumping, but all that has come to nought.
It is mind-boggling, however, why people risk to travel to either country in this manner when passports are now relatively affordable and the turnaround time of processing such documents at the Registrar-General’s office has improved.
Cross-border transporters, commonly known as omalayitsha, are also part of the illegal migration equation as they charge between R1 500 and R2 000 to smuggle people from Zimbabwe to South Africa. They charge about R600 to transport the same immigrants back to Zimbabwe.
In December last year, 200 children were intercepted by border authorities while being smuggled by omalayitsha to South Africa. In the same month, three people including a nine-year-old boy, were attacked and killed by a hippopotamus while skipping the border to the south of the Limpopo.
A few weeks later, 11 others were attacked by a hippo resulting in the disappearance of a five-year-old girl, who remains missing up to today.
Several road shows have been held by Government officials and non-governmental organisations from both countries over border jumping with all promising to up efforts in tightening screws at the border or boundary line.
These efforts, however, will continue to suffer still births as long as authorities are not addressing the root causes of illegal migration.
South Africa deports about 80 Zimbabweans per day from that country for breaching various sections of their immigration laws. Most of those deported are repeat offenders.
Home Affairs Deputy Minister Obedingwa Mguni said, on a recent visit to Beitbridge, that Government was mobilising resources to tighten security along the border.
It is also sad that 38 Zimbabweans died in various accidents in the Limpopo province and in some of the cases, they wont be carrying any identity documents, which then makes it difficult to identify their nationalities.
Zimbabwe’s Consul-General to South Africa, Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro, said recently that it becomes difficult to identify people who have never had a national identification documents or birth certificates at home.
A total of 1 418 Zimbabwean bodies were repatriated from South Africa between January and June last year, with embassy staff indicating that they had challenges in identifying some of them.
The major destinations for these repatriations are mainly Plumtree, Bulawayo, Tsholotsho, Nkayi, Gweru, Gwanda, Beitbridge, Matobo, Chipinge, Zaka, Chiredzi, Mwenezi and Bikita.
The consulate requires the deceased’s national identification document, especially a passport of the deceased or a birth certificate or national Identification for those travelling by road and strictly passport for those flying.
Those who were interviewed implored the Government to do a self introspection on the forces behind border jumping. They argue that one needs to get a birth certificate (unabridged/long birth certificate) and a national identification document to apply for a passport.
However, obtaining such documents is a challenge to many, especially those in remote areas and who were also born in disjointed families.
“The Government should find a way of accommodating such people who end up losing hope on getting passports and see migrating illegally as an alternative,” complained one migrant, who was about to embark on the treacherous trip across the Limpopo.
The Registrar-General’s Office was also implored to decentralise the processing and issuance of passports which is centralised at provincial capitals, which are beyond the reach of many due to high transport costs.
Furthermore, illegal migration is fuelled by people who live within the border area and have relatives on the other side of the river.
They share cultures and inter-marriages is widespread.
Such people don’t see the need to travel for 300km or 500km to apply for a passport when they can simply walk across the river for 5km to visit their relatives.
In some instances, the border jumpers have passports but are not qualified to apply for permits in South Africa as professionals and are only eligible to visit that country for 90 days per year. Their stay in South Africa is at the discretion of an immigration officer who may decide to give them five days per each visit.
This has proved to be costly to many who are not formally employed who see jumping the border as the only way to salvation.
South Africans are allowed to visit Zimbabwe for 30 calendar days per each visit meaning they can visit Zimbabwe for 365 days without any hastles and may also extend their stay without leaving the country.