New figures released this weekend have revealed that thousands of Zimbabweans, including innocent, legal travellers have been deported from Botswana, as their impatience with the Zimbabwe crisis grows. The figures show that an estimated 13 thousand Zimbabwean nationals were deported between April and June this year, according to informatiThe site reports that in April alone, more than 6 000 people including, 236 children were deported, while in May and June over 3 000 people were deported each month. Hebert Mudzvova, the acting regional immigration officer at the Plumtree border post reportedly said the figures are expected to peak in July. He added that many Zimbabwe travelers to Botswana were being deported without question.
Millions of Zimbabweans have fled the country in the midst of its collapse, escaping political upheaval, violence and economic destruction. The majority have fled to neighbouring countries often making the dangerous journey by foot and illegally crossing borders to seek safety, food and jobs. But the countries hosting the thousands of exiles have started losing patience since the formation of the unity government, as the coalition was hoped to usher in real change. Now, more than five months later the only real change has been in the structures of the government and the dollarisation of the economy.
Regardless however, policies on Zimbabwean exiles adopted by other countries are beginning to be less tolerant. In South Africa, many Zimbabweans are still being hounded by police and threatened with deportation, and thousands are still taking shelter at Johannesburgs Central Methodist Church. Meanwhile, Canadian authorities on Friday said the country would no longer offer asylum to Zimbabweans and people from four other countries if they attempted to enter the country having first landed in the United States.
Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in a statement, other nationals affected by the new regulation were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan. People making refugee claims would be required to seek protection in whichever of the two countries they enter first, be it Canada or the US. The new regulation effectively suspends an exemption that had been allowed under the bilateral Safe Third Country Agreement that bans people from making asylum claims in both Canada and the US.