A good four million immigrants live in South Africa – around seven percent of the total population. A growing problem for the country. It is therefore strengthening its border controls, for example with neighboring Zimbabwe.
In the scorching heat, at almost 40 degrees, everything that is supposed to better control and protect South Africa’s borders came to the Musina stadium in the far northeast of the country:
Patrol vehicles, motorcycles and hundreds of emergency services in bulletproof vests. Nearby, in the small border town of Beitbridge, many people arrive in South Africa every day, including illegally.
They bribe border guards, confide in smugglers, climb through barbed wire or swim across the Limpopo border river.
A vehicle from the Border Management Authority in South Africa. The border guards are equipped with brand new, all-terrain vehicles.
Illegals Border crossings should come to an end
This should change with the new “Border Management Authority,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the official launch:
“The new agency was established in response to a number of serious challenges. One of them is the increasing number of undocumented aliens entering the country. This has exacerbated many of our country’s social and economic problems.”
Xenophobes Attacks are increasing in South Africa
In fact, legal and illegal migrants in South Africa are increasingly subject to xenophobic attacks. “Operation Dudula”, a kind of militant vigilante group that has named itself after the Zulu word for “pushing out”, supposedly wants to liberate South Africa from foreigners and announced a few days ago that it would form a party and run in next year’s elections .
Before the “Border Management Authority” was launched, the authority’s spokesman, Mike Masiapata, said that since July last year, 95,000 people had been prevented from illegally entering South Africa and 140 stolen vehicles had been seized.
President Ramaphosa emphasized: “A better secured border is important to curb illegal migration, illegal movement of people between countries, smuggling and human trafficking.” He had previously met at the border with his counterpart from Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, for talks.
For the official start of the new border controls, all emergency services are gathered in the Musina stadium.
Border guards trained against corruption
South Africa has 73 border crossings, ten of which are at airports and nine on the coast. With the new “Border Management Authority”, 600 new border guards will be deployed in addition to police officers and soldiers, in a ten kilometer wide strip along the border and ten nautical miles from the coast.
The men and women were specially trained against corruption, said Steven van Neel ARD-Studio Johannesburg: “Of course we want people who have integrity, who are not easily influenced by people who obviously have bad intentions.”
But that is exactly what Ngqabutho Mabhena from the community of exiled Zimbabweans in South Africa doubts. In his eyes, the new authority is completely pointless. Among the new border guards are many former police and security forces who have been fired. “The entire authority is not equipped with enough money, the people are corrupt and incompetent. Personally, I and all of us don’t see how anything positive can come of this.”
About seven percent migrants in South Africa
The South African Statistics Office estimates that there are around four million people living in South Africa who were not born in the country. Whether legal or illegal, that is not charged. Most come from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Malawi. According to Human Rights Watch, there are also around 260,000 refugees and asylum seekers. South Africa has a total population of around 60 million.
Freeman Bhengu, who lives in Musina, is convinced that the influx of migrants from neighboring countries will only end when people there are better off.
He says: “As long as the economy in the countries of origin does not develop to South African levels, we will continue to have this challenge of migrants from neighboring countries coming to South Africa because there are lusher pastures here.”