South Africa resumed the deportation of undocumented Zimbabweans in October last year. “We have so far handled 35 031 deportees since the exercise resumed on 7 October last year. Between 1 January and 24 August, 27 276 Zimbabweans were brought back home,” said Zimbabwe’s assistant regional immigration manager at Beit Bridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede.

The latest batch of deportees was brought in aboard seven buses from the Lindela detention centre outside Johannesburg in Gauteng.

Gwede said several border jumpers were taking advantage of the drop in water levels in the Limpopo River to cross the border illegally through undesignated entry points. “There is a need to intensify border patrols to reduce border jumping as, of late, there has been a sharp increase in border jumping,” he added.

“We continue to warn people against using undesignated entry points as they risk being attacked by robbers who operate in bushy areas along the river,” he also said.