Zimbabweans queue for Limpopo jobs

 Home affairs granted the concession to employ Zimbabwean farm workers to farmers in the Musina district before rolling out the work permit system nationally.
Mpho Moloi, the director of the regional home affairs office in Polokwane, said the concession to use migrant workers had been extended to all farmers in South Africa, because most farm work was seasonal and there were not enough locals willing to do the work.
However, Moloi could not provide statistics on the number of Zimbabwean migrants employed under the concession in the Musina district, which borders Zimbabwe. According to the department of labour, a survey conducted by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed that most farms in the area sourced 80% of their labour from Zimbabwe and 20% locally.
 The survey further showed that the overall labour force on those farms ranged between 1 000 and 2 000 workers, depending on the season, although other evidence suggests there could be many more. In October 2001 the number of Zimbabwean migrant workers was estimated at 5 500 when farmers brought a high court application to stop them being deported by home affairs. The farms in the district produce tropical and subtropical fruit and most of their Zimbabwean workers are seasonal fruit pickers. The concession preceded the Immigration Act of 2002.