South Africa’s Home Affairs Department has responded to reports made on 15 September that the department was blocking some Zimbabweans who were intending to pass through the Beitbridge border post to Zimbabwe.
News24 reported that the new Border Management Authority guards in Musina, Limpopo were blocking the travellers. Reads the statement issued by the department in response to the reports:
Border Guards are doing access control duties at the Beitbridge Border Post and they direct the Zimbabweans wanting to go back to their home country to the relevant queues so that they can be documented in accordance with the Immigration Act. This means that they need to be fingerprinted and have their demographic details taken.
However, there are people who have refused to be documented on their departure. They believe that now that they are going back home, nobody needs to ask them any questions at our border.
Nobody will be allowed to just waltz through our border to and fro without being documented. There are no exceptions in this regard, whether you go through a land port, sea port or an airport. This is regardless of your nationality.
There is no way South Africa will refuse anybody from going back home. But similarly, South Africa can’t just allow anybody to move in and out of the country without it being recorded anywhere.