Ethiopians arrested at border

Police at the Beit Bridge border intercepted four Ethiopian illegal immigrants and a Zimbabwean man who was assisting them in trying to enter South Africa through an illegal crossing point along the Limpopo River.

According to the police, the Zimbabwean, Solani Ngwenya (32), was trying to assist Ibrahim Ali Maalim Adam (30), Debe Ikran Abdi (25), Abdi Samiya Abdulai (34) and Mohammed Ahred Adi (28) to jump the porous border between Zimbabwe and South Africa. The East Africans and the Zimbabwean were arrested by the police at a pick-up point in Beit Bridge on Wednesday at about 13:00 as they were about to cross into South Africa.

The suspects appeared in court before Magistrate Gloria Takundwa of the Beit Bridge Magistrate's Court, facing charges of contravening a section of the Immigration Act. The case was postponed to 20 November and they were each released on bail of US$50 bail after the prosecution indicated that it needed to secure the services of an Arabic interpreter.

The court was told that on 4 November Adam facilitated the illegal entry of his fellow countrymen into Zimbabwe through Victoria Falls. They then travelled by road to Bulawayo, where Adam approached Ngwenya, an unregistered cross-border transporter. They allegedly arranged for the quartet to be smuggled to South Africa through illegal crossing points.

It was stated that Adam had paid Ngwenya US$200 for the service.

They were intercepted by police on patrol at a point used by border jumpers. The crackdown on illegal immigrants follows a meeting in 2011 in Beit Bridge between Zimbabwean and South African immigration officials over the issue of irregular migration between the two countries.  The refugees allegedly take advantage of human traffic syndicates that take desperate illegal Zimbabwean immigrants to South Africa on a daily basis.

Lately there has been a surge in the number of illegal immigrants from East African countries who enter Zimbabwe illegally and try to jump the border to South Africa. The immigrants enter Zimbabwe through the Harare International Airport, Nyamapanda, Chirundu and Forbes border posts with the assistance of human trafficking syndicates operating in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Date:13 November 2014

By: 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.

Read: 968