“Home Affairs purposefully lowering border-crossing numbers to hide Zim refugee crisis”

claiming that it is far too high.

This is blatant and unfortunately commonplace government denial, in the same vein that government has been denying the Zimbabwean crisis since the land invasions began seven years ago.

However, the DA has proof of the numbers, which were presented to the DA delegation and a reporter from Jacaranda FM who visited the border post earlier this week. I was personally told by a border post official, whose name is known to us, who did not want to be named, that over 6000 people a day were coming through the post. These are just the people entering legally.

In addition:
Farmers near the border estimate about 4000 Zimbabweans are illegally crossing into South Africa every night;
They also claim that the local police and military privately acknowledge that between 3000 and 4000 Zimbabweans are jumping the border every day;
Both the SABC and Limpopo police recently reported that 6000 Zimbabwean refugees were deported every week from Musina and these are just the people caught. The actual number is much higher. The police are no longer allowed to release figures on deportations in Limpopo; and
This July, the National Assembly safety and security committee chairperson Maggie Sotyu and other MPs visited several border posts. They found that no could give them exact figures of illegal immigrants crossing the border each day, but one border official said the number could be between 2000 and 3000.

Either all these sources are involved in an elaborate conspiracy against the Minister of Home Affairs, or there is a massive problem that the Minister is denying. Perhaps the Minister should visit some of the Home Affairs offices where she will see thousands of people lining up every day trying to apply for refugee status.

Whether the number is 1000 a day or 10 000 a day, there is still a huge number of people streaming into the country as a result of the total meltdown in Zimbabwe. The Department of Home Affairs is legally and constitutionally bound to make provision for these people. But before they do that they have to admit there is a problem.

The Minister’s denial has now reached the stage where it is tragic, wilfully ignorant and quite frankly, malicious.