The Situation at the Border of South Africa and Zimbabwe

An Eyewitness Account

Overview:
I spoke with policemen, local business owners, farmers, farm workers, military personnel, community members and Zimbabwean immigrants in Musina, South Africa.  I visited the hospital, a game lodge, restaurants, farms the MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres) Clinic and the SMG Military Base to try to obtain a complete picture of the refugee situation by the border.  I was repeatedly told by all different groups of people that bodies of immigrants were commonly found in the bush.  It also appears that number of people jumping the boarder is ever increasing and impossible to stop.

The Police:
I spoke with several police, on the ground, in Musina and they made it clear that they spend almost all of their time taking undocumented Zimbabwean immigrants to the Military Base called SMG. Some of them claimed to have deported the same people up to 15 times.  They also said they frequently come across dead bodies that appeared to have died from dehydration, starvation, snake bites, animal attacks or attacks by robbers in the bush. They confirmed that they we involved in the deportations of immigrants.

Zimbabwean Immigrants:
I spoke with Zimbabwean immigrants in the Musina Hospital who had been taken to hospital from the renowned SMG military base  because they were sick. The group consisted of 3 women, a baby and an unaccompanied 17 year old girl. This is what I was told by them: They had been taken from SMG to hospital, about thirty minutes earlier.  They had been detained for more than 48 hours at SMG. While in the SMG they described being given less than ½ a loaf of bread a day. They claimed that access to toilet facilities were nearly impossible; they had to beg the guards at SMG to let them out of the “warehouse” to use the bathroom and even then most of the toilets did not work. They stated that the police only took their names and ages and they never had a chance to explain that they were seeking asylum or to even speak to anyone from the Department of Home Affairs. Their names were written down and their ages were written, no fingerprints were taken and no verification of documentation seemed to to occur –in fact they never saw anyone used a computer at the SMG. They questioned if there was even a computer there, to verify their documentation.
 

The 17-year-old girl who had been detained in SMG with adults, said she had been bought a ticket to Joburg by a good Samaritan and was hoping to join her cousin (the only remaining family member who could support her). She had been orphaned after both her parents died from TB, because they did not have money to buy the treatment. Her mother was a nurse, before succumbing to TB.

She described the beatings that had happened in her rural village and said she had fled the village for fear of being raped. She had been labeled an opposition supporter and had to leave. She become suicidal, but fortunately an old family friend bought her a ticket to South Africa, and paid the bribe needed to get through the boarder (all in all a total of R1500)  She said she had no money and had not been given a chance to speak to a social worker.  She was adamant about seeking political asylum but unable to speak to a representative of Home Affairs; the police did not care and told her they were going to deport her. She was to be deported later that day.  She also described men being beaten by with a knotted rope when they disobeyed the SMG guards’ instructions or tried to escape. She said that twice daily, they deported about 350 people from SMG.

All immigrants I spoke with expressed their fear of the police—without proper documentation, they could not go to them to report assault, rape, exploitation or abuse.
I also spoke with about 50 Zimbabwean immigrants working on farms near the border.  They said they are being paid  R300 per month for 5 ½ days of work a week. They said they were not happy with the wages but had no choice and fondly stated that they at least got paid.  They described how other farms work the immigrants for up to 3 months only to call the military to deport them, instead of paying them. The group of fifty said all of them had to pay Zimbabwean soldiers R50 or were badly beaten to leave Zimbabwe while boarder jumping. They said the border is very well monitored by the Zimbabwean soldiers and that almost everyone has to face them while exiting.

Many undocumented immigrants described being turned away from the Musina Hospital for not having documents (there was definitely strong access control at the hospital when I went there). They knew about the local MSF clinic but were afraid to go there because they did not have their documents and going to the clinic exposes them to the police.

Guma-Gumas
Immigrants, police and farmers all refered to guma gumas as being paid guides who lead immigrants across the boarder. They, however, were often criminals who mislead people and robbed, raped and murdered the immigrants. There was some speculation that the Zimbawean solidiers were sometimes involved in these groups.


Farmers:
Farmers are greatly concerned about their fences being broken because of lost revenue from game leaving their land.  For example, a game farmer makes about 15,000 R per buffalo.  Farmers had set up razor-wire booby traps to discourage people from walking onto their property.   Farmers were also concerned about piping being stolen off their land.  However, they acknowledged that many local gangs and thieves took advantage of the immigrants’ presence and committed crimes knowing that immigrants would be blamed.  

One individual living on a farm openly admitted to throwing a brick at an immigrant, hitting him on the head as he was passing through his land.  He had also thrown a puff adder snake at another group of immigrants.

Community Members:
Several times a day, everyday, community members would see the police filling up vans of immigrants and taking them to SMG.  

Game Farm Hunting Guide:
He described how he had seen “numerous” bodies in the bush.  He had witnessed the gang rape of a woman (by two guma-gumas armed with AK-47s,).  He said he knew that other farmers and guma-gumas hunted down immigrants and sometimes killed them.  He also said that immigrants often died on farms while crossing from snakebites, animal attacks, other injuries dehydration or starvation.  

Military Personnel:
I spoke with military personnel at and near the border who described how many of the local farmers employ immigrants and after 1-3 months, call the military to have them deport the undocumented migrants before paying them for their work. Alarmingly they described how Zimbabwean soldiers are allowed to cross into South Africa through the goodwill of some of the South African officials, I could not establish if they were allowed to enter with their weapons or not..

SMG Military Base:
I visited SMG Military Base unannounced. I was surprised to see that other than access to the base, the security and management of the holding shed was done by the South African Police Service.  I saw some immigrants being dropped off by military personal. There were approximately 400 people in total.  The women and men were separated by a wall through the middle of the warehouse like structure.. Children and minors were kept in the same holdings among the adults.  There were no immigration officials present and no clear registration for deportation. The conditions there were appalling. There was no privacy for the immigrants there and no blankets were provided.  I witnessed the police feeding immigrants by holding a loaf of bread in front of the bars, while the immigrants desperately tried to reach out and grab a handful from the loaf.  It was like watching animals being fed in a cage. There was urine and human feces in all corners of the warehouse. .  Additionally, the toilets were flooded and clogged and inaccessible to immigrants without police allowing and escorting them.

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