300 Zimbabweans arrive in SA daily: MSF

JOHANNESBURG About 300 Zimbabweans arrive daily at the South African border town of Musina seeking asylum, a leading relief agency has said, in yet another sign that Zimbabwes nascent economic recovery was yet to create the confidence required to stem an exodus sparked by the country’s decade-long crisis.

Zimbabwes economy registered its first growth in a decade last year after a new coalition government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai implemented measures, including the adoption of multiple currencies that doused hyperinflation.

But unending bickering between Mugabes Zanu (PF) party and Tsvangirais MDC over power-sharing and democratic reforms, coupled with the coalitions failure to win direct financial support from Western governments have left ordinary Zimbabweans uncertain about the sustainability of economic recovery and the countrys political future.

As a result many Zimbabweans continue to flee home for foreign lands in search for jobs and better living conditions.

“We have been told by the DHA (department of home affairs) that there are 300 people per day arriving at the DHA to apply for asylum (in Musina),” Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) head of mission Mickael le Paih said last week.

The MSF boss said many of the migrants were too poor to afford proper travel documents such as passports and had to cross the border illegally.

“While the (DHA) promised a year ago to create a special dispensation permit to ease the process for migrants crossing the border, this has never been implemented,” he said.

The international medical relief organisation said the number of sexual assaults reported on the Zimbabwean border had also increased by a third with about 20 rapes each month, an increase from an average of 15 the previous year.

“From March 1 to May the number of cases treated was 71,” said MSF nurse Mashudu Nelufule, adding; “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Nelufule said that most of the rape victims did not receive treatment to prevent the contraction of HIV. Rather than go to the authorities, they opted to continue on to their destinations, whether they be farms near Musina or distant cities.

She also recounted several gruesome stories of women who were victimised by thugs as they crossed the border.

“When they cross they will meet the gangs that take their money, belongings, sometimes even their clothes,” said Nelufule.

MSF is currently treating over 2 000 patients a month from its Musina location and local farms with most of them being migrants, not only from Zimbabwe but also South Africans from other parts of the country.

South Africa remains the destination of choice for hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean economic refugees with Africas biggest economy estimated to be holding anything above two million immigrants from its northern neighbour.

The South African government last month announced that it was redeploying soldiers to patrol its highly porous borders with neighbours Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to prevent illegal crossings and other criminal activity there.