Zim’s woes swell flood of illegals
Source: The Sunday Independent
Date: 24 December 2006
Author: Jeremy Gordin
Desperate men, some armed with Rhodesian war AK-47s, cross to South Africa and will kill to survive.
The number of Zimbabweans trying to escape their country's economic meltdown by making an illegal exodus to South Africa grows every night. And the hunger of Zimbabweans and Mozambicans who live close to the Kruger National Park (KNP) has pushed up the number of poachers invading the park in search of food. According to figures published by Human Rights Watch - but unconfirmed by the South African government - South Africa last year deported 200 000 illegal immigrants at a cost of R218 million. Most of them were deported to Zimbabwe but many were sent back to Botswana or Mozambique. Human Rights Watch estimated that between 1,2 million and 3 million Zimbabweans live illegally in South Africa. Last year, according to statistics compiled by the department of home affairs, of 16 000 applications for refugee status only 114 were granted.
A licensed ranger and former member of the KNP's anti-poaching unit, who asked not to be named, said that one night last week he saw the police "pick up" a group of about 650 Zimbabweans close to the military corridor on the Zimbabwe-South Africa border at the north-western edge of the park. "It's a common sight, nothing unusual," the 25-year-old ranger said. "Zimbabweans are hungry. They walk across the Limpopo river into South Africa at night. They get onto the game paths and they trudge. They don't seem to worry, or can't afford to worry, about the dangerous animals here: the crocodiles, the lions, the elephants." Mantshele Tau, a senior official in the department of home affairs, said yesterday that South Africa was deporting "approximately" 2 000 Zimbabweans a month and that this number seemed to be constant. Tau said that his figure was for people apprehended, held in police cells in Musina and trucked back across the border. He conceded that "obviously" there were thousands of people who came into the country every month but were not caught.
"It's no good pretending that this is not happening," said Tau. "It is. And there's no point in saying that we have a good handle on the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa because we don't know where most of them are. We only know about deportations. Internationally, deportations are on the increase," said Tau. "If your country is the big economy in the region, people from neighbouring countries are going to head there. Look at the US and Mexico." The ranger said that the economic plight of the Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and South Africans living close to the KNP had increased poaching. The number of poachers, especially so-called subsistence poachers, who kill only to feed their families, is steadily increasing. This was confirmed by Raymond Travis, a spokesperson for the KNP. "Anyone involved in trying to stop poachers will tell you that it's not a battle that can be won," said Travis. "You can't end poaching - all you can try to do is manage it." The ranger said it was worrying that some of the Zimbabwean poachers were well-armed, often with guns left over from the Rhodesian war of more than two decades ago.
"When you have to face poachers armed with automatic weapons, things get a bit hairy," he said. "Recently we received reports of a group, either local or from Zimbabwe, who came into the park with dogs. They were obviously after leopards. I went out to track them but didn't find them." Travis said that two KNP rangers had recently come across a group who had crossed the Mozambican border. One of the gang was carrying an AK-47 rifle and the rangers exchanged fire with him. Travis said poachers in it for the money tended to be well-armed and organised, and were after rhino horn and ivory, and leopards and wild dogs. Then there were the "food poachers", some of whom were involved in the lucrative bush-meat trade, whereas others want only to fill their stomachs and those of their families.