South Africa: It's 600 Against Thousands At the Border

@PresidencyZA / X
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, right, and Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Beitbridge Border Port of Entry in Limpopo, October 5, 2023.
6 October 2023
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
opinion By Zukile Majova

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa took their "bromance" to the Beitbridge Border Port of Entry in Musina on Thursday.

The two have been cuddling since Mnangagwa won a disputed election that was marked by intimidation of the opposition in August.

Ramaphosa was the VVIP guest at the Zanu PF government's jamboree to mark Mnangagwa's second term.

Then Ramaphosa flew the Zimbabwean flag at the United Nations General Assembly where he pleaded with world leaders to lift all sanctions against Zimbabwe and its political elite.

And so the buddies were all smiles and hugs when they met in sweltering heat in Limpopo to address border management, a subject the new South Africa has never taken seriously.

President Cyril Ramaphosa insists that is about to change.

To prove its seriousness, the Ramaphosa government introduced 200 guards in 2022 to patrol the country's borders.

Twelve months later, the number has gone up to 600 guards.

Before the addition of 400 patrollers on Thursday, only 200 guards were on duty.

And the borderline stretches for 4,700 km.

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the country needed a lot more guards, adding that the over 1,000 km stretch between SA and Botswana did not have a single guard on duty.

Ramaphosa and Mnangagwa inspected the border post between the two countries.

Over 20,000 people pass through the Beitbridge Border Post everyday while thousands pass through its porous fences illegally, mostly from Zimbabwe in search of better opportunities.

The day marked the official launch of the Border Management Authority in Musina, Limpopo, which is made up of 600 patrollers.

"A more secure border is important for curbing illegal migration, the movement of people between countries, on an illegal basis.

"It is important to curb human smuggling and trafficking. The Border Management Authority will help in combating cross border crime as well.

"And that is why it becomes an important arm of our security apparatus," said Ramaphosa at the Musina Border.

Meanwhile, SAPS Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela said their Operation Shanela in the Johannesburg CBD led to the arrest of hundreds of illegal immigrants.

There are at least one million Zimbabweans in South Africa trying to eke out a living.

The joint effort between the Ramaphosa and Mnangagwa governments is the latest in a string of developments that reflect closer relations between Harare and Pretoria.

Read the original article on Scrolla.

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