Scores of Zimbabwean border jumpers continue to sneak out of their country into South Africa through undesignated entry points along the Limpopo River, despite the presence of both local and Zimbabwean soldiers and police patrolling on either side of the border.

A recent week-long investigation by Mirror revealed that there is apparently a well-orchestrated syndicate involving police, immigration guards manning entrance and exit gates at Beitbridge border, and cross-border transport operators, commonly known as omalayitsha, which facilitates the illegal migration of Zimbabweans.

Cross-border transport operators employ a group of touting youths who then lay siege to illegal immigrants as they arrive at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reception and support centre in Beitbridge. On a busy day, especially on Thursdays when a large number of illegal immigrants would have been cleared from Lindela Detention Centre near Johannesburg, the centre becomes a hive of activity as these youths jostle for "clients" and at times, these rival groups are involved in fistfights over deportees. The border jumpers are ferried to various crossing points where they are then connected to another network of syndicates operating along the Limpopo River, who then assist the illegal immigrants in wading through the usually flooded and crocodile-infested Limpopo River for fees ranging from between R200 and R400 per person.

These syndicates, who are mainly local villagers staying along the river and who are accustomed to the area, target certain points where the water levels are low. On successfully crossing the river, they then escort the border jumpers to another point where they eventually go underneath a dividing security fence into South Africa. This illegal business is usually conducted at night. The omalayitsha, who have usually with some police well in advance, take over the border jumpers and they are normally crammed into bakkies bearing Gauteng number plates and transported to Gauteng for fees between R1 000 and R2 000 each. Where there are road blocks along the way, the transport operators resort to bribing the police. "We normally encounter problems along the way, particularly where police will have mounted roadblocks. Under such circumstances, we bribe them (police) and proceed with the border jumpers to Johannesburg", said a driver, who identified himself as Victor Maseko. Just recently, police in Musina intercepted 13 unregistered cross-border transport operators carrying several Zimbabwean illegal immigrants, among them 13 unaccompanied children.

There are also allegations that some South African farmers near Musina are fuelling border jumping by playing host to these desperate job seekers from Zimbabwe in order to get cheap labour on their farms. It is said that most of the farms outside Musina have illegal immigrants working there. Thousands of Zimbabwean illegal immigrants are deported from South Africa through Beitbridge border post every week with an average of about 700 being brought back home daily.

According to statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), last year over 150 000 Zimbabweans were deported from South Africa through the Beitbridge border post. The IOM program manager, Mr Nick van der Vyver, recently told Mirror that half of the Zimbabwean illegal immigrants, mostly women, who are deported from South Africa through Beitbridge border post are shunning humanitarian assistance offered at the reception and support centre in the border town.

The deportees prefer to cross back to South Africa illegally. Van der Vyver said they have handled 110 685 deportations since the IOM was opened last year in May. He said, however, out of those deported during that period, 56 024 registered for assistance while the remainder shunned it. The center was jointly opened by the governments of South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is also estimated that more than 1,2 million Zimbabweans are living and working in South Africa, the majority of them illegally.