Zimbabwean Police at Beitbridge made a breakthrough when they busted a massive visa syndicate and arrested a 35-year-old suspect who attempted to secure South African visas for 11 Zimbabweans illegally by using forged documents.

The local police spokesperson, Insp Moyo, said the suspect forged a college letterhead and wrote a letter to the South African embassy in Harare requesting them to issue visas to people who he claimed had been identified by the college to attend a tourism workshop in Louis Trichardt.

"He claimed the workshop was to run for two weeks, right up to 17 January. He also wrote a letter on the pretext that it was a local sport controlling body, requesting the college to identify people who would attend a series of workshops in South Africa in preparation for the 2010 soccer World Cup," he said.

However, the South African embassy turned down the visa applications and sent back the documents to the college, which subsequently led to the discovery of the scam.

"We would like to believe the suspect is part of a syndicate involving other suspects who swindled unsuspecting people in need of visas of their monies, but we are still investigating," said the police spokesman.

Among the discovered documents were four forged police clearance certificates. Insp Moyo said the suspect would appear in court soon.

"As police, we would like to urge those wishing to travel to South Africa to make efforts to get the required travel documents through registered organizations and travel agencies to avoid going through the hands of people with fraudulent habits which can lead to the loss of large sums of money and great inconvenience," Moyo said.

Cases of bogus agencies are on the increase in the neighboring country as the number of Zimbabweans who are desperate to leave the country due to economic hardship continues to grow, resulting in some locals’ resorting to unorthodox means to get travel documents.

South Africa has tightened visa requirements for Zimbabweans, who are required to produce a letter from the persons or organization inviting them, traveler’s cheques amounting to R2 000 as proof of funds to sustain oneself in South Africa and an affidavit from the Department of Home Affairs, amongst other stringent requirements.