On the boundary of madness

ident Thabo Mbeki spoke of a Zimbabwean community near three million living in South Africa.
However, new inflation figures of 10 000 per cent and a shortage of basic food in Zimbabwe following the Mugabe government’s effort at price control has seen what one home affairs officer described as “a human tsunami” pushing south.
Estimates range from 3000 to 5000 crossing the river every day and in Johannesburg last month, the Star newspaper put the monthly average at 100 000, well above the government claim of around 20 000
Hungry, desperate for hard currency and needing to pay bus fare to their final destination — usually Johannesburg or Durban — exiles turn to crime.
At the last census, before the 2000 elections, Zimbabwe’s population was estimated at 11 million. With life expectancy now the lowest in the world, and migration surging, some academics put the current figure lower than seven million.
Maggie Sotyu, an ANC member of parliament who led a recent inquiry on movement across the northern boundary, described it as “unbelievable”. Border patrol staff told her more than 5000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants had been arrested in a two’week period, but this could represent less than 10 per cent of the influx.
And whereas exiles used to jump the river close to the official Beit Bridge immigration post, they now penetrate the entire length of the 320 kilometre border fence.
Gideon Meiring, who farms in the region and also chairs the Soutpansberg District Agricultural Union, says lack of government action on the matter has left the region in crisis.
“We have seen a big increase in numbers, but also a rise in theft, assault and even murder,” he said.
“And it’s not just attacks on whites. Black South Africans in this region, especially women, are afraid to walk alone in case they are raped.”
With police and Home Affairs combing the roads and highways for exiles, Zimbabweans move through the bush at night, cutting fences as they go and Meiring said this had become major problem for game and cattle farmers.
“But we also understand the plight of these people,” he said. “They are desperate and even the farmers who bear the brunt of the crisis feel both a pity for them and sadness that our government has done nothing to bring the suffering in Zimbabwe to an end.”
Patrick Chibaya is typical of the new immigrants. Last week he spent two nights with his cousin in the firmer Venda homeland capital of Thohoyandou, close to Kruger National Park, before pushing on to his sister’s family in Nelspruit.
“I never thought I would leave because I had a job in a bakery and work is so scarce you can’t risk running to South Africa and then, when you come back your job is gone,” he said. “But it is so bad now that the money I earn can’t even pay my daily bus fare.”
Chibaya said he had been led across the river by a guide, but many who tried to make it alone were robbed by gangs preying on the exiles.
“Even so, many are willing to risk anything just to leave,” he said. “And because so many of us now live in South Africa, every Zimbabwean has a brother or sister or friend in this country and somewhere to stay when they arrive.”
Chibaya said that talk of moving south was the main topic of conversation in Zimbabwe. “In beer halls, with friends, even at work, it is what people talk about all the time. I think the numbers are going to rise very fast now”
Zimbabwean writer Geoff Hill is bureau’chief Africa for The Washington Times. His latest book is What Happens After Mugabe? (Zebra/Struik).
This story appears in the current (3 August) edition of the South African magazine, Farmer’s Weekly, and is publised in The Zimbabwean with permission. ©Farmer’s Weekly.