Zimbabwean Shoppers Caught Trying To Use Free Repatriation Buses From Musina
Some Zimbabwean and Mozambican nationals are reportedly abusing the repatriation of foreign nationals from the Musina Repatriation Centre in Limpopo, South Africa, by using free buses meant for undocumented migrants to travel home.
The centre has also seen an influx of people dropped off at the gates by South African employers seeking to have their workers repatriated.
Department of Home Affairs Limpopo manager Albert Matsaung disclosed this in an interview with the SABC on Monday, 13 July, saying officials have picked up cases where people go shopping in Musina and then try to board repatriation buses to Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Matsaung said numbers at the centre continue to fluctuate, making planning difficult. He said on one day only three buses were loaded for Zimbabwean nationals, with fewer than a thousand people processed, but the centre was flooded the next day.
“It remains a moving target, and you will never be certain as to how many people will be coming over,” he said. “People continue to come from all nine provinces, people continue to come over to the centre as part of them wanting to be repatriated.”
He said embassies and other government departments remain on site to assist, including providing food to those awaiting transport.
Matsaung said there are different categories of people at the centre. The first group arrives on buses from other provinces in a managed process. A second group is made up of people dropped off at the gates by their former employers.
“You must understand that most of the people here are people who were being employed, so employers are also coming here individually to drop their people. It’s easy for us to identify them as and when they come,” he said.
He said a third, smaller category involves people trying to abuse the system.
“We have picked up one or two that wanted to, after having bought from Musina, come and use our repatriation centre’s transportation,” he said. “A person who just carries groceries is a reflection that this is not a person whose main aim was just to be repatriated.”
Matsaung said the department is screening people dropped at the gate and is working with the Zimbabwean and Mozambican embassies and the South African Police Service to identify those taking advantage of the free transport.
“There are very few; it’s not that much, and we are managing that. The embassy is also assisting us,” he said, adding that the department’s responsibility is to continue assisting those who genuinely want to be repatriated as and when they arrive.
