HARARE, Jul. 23 (NewsDay Live) – A humanitarian emergency is unfolding along the South Africa-Zimbabwe border as thousands of undocumented Zimbabweans face accelerated deportations, biometric blacklisting and strained reception facilities amid growing reports of xenophobic violence.
Senior journalist Sydney Kawadza, a news editor at Alpha Media, who observed operations between the Musina Repatriation Centre in South Africa and the Beitbridge Reception Centre in Zimbabwe, described the border crossing as a “relentless movement of human lives” as South African authorities intensify deportations.
Speaking on Fate of the Nation, an HStv Current Affairs programme, Kawadza, immigration officials were using biometric systems to process deportees, with many being declared “undesirable” and issued five-year bans from re-entering South Africa.
More than 20,000 returnees an estimated 70% of them women and children are passing through overstretched reception facilities at the border.
Many deportees said they fled South Africa because of escalating threats of xenophobic violence rather than returning voluntarily.
Kawadza recounted the experience of a Zimbabwean domestic worker who fled Durban after living there for two decades.
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“Every day she was being told, ‘Go back home. Next time we see you here, you’re going to get a necklace,’” Kawadze said, referring to the practice of placing a burning tyre around a victim’s neck.
“She said, ‘Every time I leave the house I’m told to be careful because when I come back they’re going to kill me.’ You invest 20 years of your life somewhere, then suddenly you leave with only two bags of clothes and nothing else.”
Kawadza said deportees were subjected to mandatory biometric registration during processing.
“The processing itself is biometrics. This is a new thing,” he said.
While humanitarian organisations and faith-based groups are providing emergency food, water and temporary shelter, facilities at Beitbridge are operating beyond capacity.
Many women and children arriving at the reception centre reportedly lack official identity documents from either South Africa or Zimbabwe, complicating access to services and reintegration.
Health workers are conducting rapid medical screenings before providing up to five days’ supply of essential medication, including antiretroviral therapy (ART), after which returnees are transported by government buses to their home districts.