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SA sends 300 000 Zimbabweans home in 2008

 
South Africa deported nearly 300 000 Zimbabwean illegal immigrants through Beit Bridge border post last year, Mirror has established.

Zimbabwe’s principal immigration officer at Beit Bridge border post, Mr Dennis Chitsaka, told Mirror that a total of 294 678 Zimbabweans were deported between January and December last year, a sharp increase, compared to the previous year when 204 827 illegal immigrants were brought back home dur-ing the same period.

The highest number of deportees was recorded in October, when 27 219 Zimbabweans were deported while March saw the lowest number, with 18 829 deportation cases.

Mr Chitsaka said, however, that there are about 200 unaccounted for illegal immigrants who continue to cross the border from South Africa daily. “The majority of the deportees are those who would have failed to secure asylum documents for various reasons,” he said.

The Department of Home Affairs deports an average of about 500 Zimbabwean illegal immigrants daily through Beit Bridge border post, with the figure increasing to more than 2 000 on Thursdays and Fridays when the biggest holding camp, Lindela Repatriation centre, outside Johannesburg in Gauteng, is cleared for new arrivals.

On arrival in Beit Bridge, deportees are subsequently taken to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) re-ception and support centre in the border town, where they are then offered food and free transport to travel to their respective homes.

However, a majority of them shun the humanitarian assistance offered by IOM as they opt to cross back into South Africa illegally through undesignated entry points along the crocodile-infested Limpopo River, ignoring the danger of either drowning or being attacked by the reptiles.

News - Date: 30 January 2009

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Mashudu Netsianda

Mashudu Netsianda is our correspondent in Beit Bridge, Zimbabwe. He joined us in 2006, writing both local and international stories. He had worked for several Zimbabwean publications, as well as the Times of Swaziland. Mashudu received his training at the School of Mass Communication in Harare.

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