A recent report, Fact or Fiction? Examining cross-border migration into South Africa by the Forced Migration Studies Programme at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand and the Musina Legal Advice Office, a non-governmental organisation advocating the rights of migrants operating on the Zimbabwean/South African border, said: recent statement by officials exaggerated the numbers of Zimbabweans moving across the border into South Africa or already in the country.
The report stops short of speculating on exact numbers but it does acknowledge that post-apartheid South Africa is experiencing its first brush with political and economic refugees and its response will be a test to the country’s ability to effectively protect the human dignity of migrants and South African citizens.
Repeated media reports suggested the number of Zimbabweans who have crossed into South Africa are anywhere between two and three million people. Some newspapers quote apparent official’ estimates that 20,000 to 30,000 undocumented Zimbabweans have been crossing into South Africa every month. Other papers quote police sources estimating that 6,000 to 10,000 migrants have been arriving weekly from Zimbabwe.
The report cautions against such sweeping estimations saying the magnitude of these increases (in cross border migration) remain unclear. Other local NGO’s appear to concur with the reports findings. The Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) researching regional migration issues, said the often-quoted figure of three million Zimbabwean refugees is overblown.
The International Organsation for Migration (IOM), an organisation committed to the principle of orderly and humane migration, opened a Reception and Support Centre in May 2006 at Beitbridge, the nearest Zimbabwean town to the South African border.
IOM claims the centre processed 16,348 people in June this year, and 20,047 in May, and in July the number of deportees from South Africa passing through the centre dropped to 15,330. In the first seven months of 2007, the IOM processed 117,737 people being returned from South Africa.
The programme’s report said that police and army patrols on the border have increased since December 2006 and that security forces have been arresting and deporting increased numbers of suspected illegal foreigners. However, according to an IRIN correspondent who spent an afternoon inspecting the 25km border fence, he witnessed no patrols by either the police or the army.
While the ANC government is said to be coy about acknowledging Zimbabwean migrants as legitimate asylum seekers, the South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has repeatedly called for the establishment of refugee camps for Zimbabwe’s economic refugees.
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