4000 a night fleeing Zimbabwe

Independent:

"At the rate which they are flocking in, I think there will soon be very few people left in Zimbabwe," says Peter Thompson, a South African farmer .

His verdict is typical of the landowners and businessmen the length of the border with Zimbabwe who say they are witnessing a dramatic upsurge in illegal immigration as their northern neighbour's economic collapse has accelerated in recent weeks.

In public, South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticised for his "softly softly" approach to Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, is refusing to acknowledge any surge. But the irate farmers say senior officials in the military and police admit privately to the scale of the problem.

According to their estimates, 4,000 are crossing into South Africa every night. That represents at least 100,000 people a month, far more than official estimates of 20,000.

At the last census, prior to the 2000 elections, Zimbabwe's population was estimated at 11 million. With life expectancy plummeting and migration surging, some sources claim that figure may now be lower than seven million.

Maggie Sotyu, an African National Congress MP who led an investigation into the influx, described the situation as "unbelievable". She said she had been told by border patrol staff that at least 5,000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants had been arrested in the past two weeks alone. And these are "only the people we manage to catch".

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The Zimbabwean dollar has become so worthless that nobody will use it. Landlords such as Norah Mutasa now ask their tenants to pay rentals in kind. "Instead of giving me cash, which loses value while I hold it, I have asked tenants to give me sugar, oil, flour and salt," said Ms Mutasa.

Instead of issuing quotations valid for 14 days, many traders now issue quotes valid for a few hours. Alfred Moyo, a bank worker, has not forgotten the day when he stood in a queue for bread and the price went up twice before he reached the teller.

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To punish the businesses, on 25 June he ordered that the cost of all goods and services in Zimbabwe be cut by half. More than 2,000 businessmen defying the order had by yesterday been jailed and fined.

The result has been serious shortages of almost all basic commodities in the shops as manufacturers have stopped production. Mr Mugabe has threatened to nationalise all the companies closing down, but he does not have the capacity to run them.

All this, coupled with increasing political violence ahead of next year's elections, means many Zimbabweans, who no longer see any hope in their country, are crossing the border.

One border official called the situation a "human tsunami". The reality of the influx hits home on the drive along the 200-mile perimeter fence along the border. While the three parallel lines of fencing are relatively intact close to the official border crossing, a few miles further on they have been shredded.

The night crossings are staged by trafficking gangs known as "Magumaguma", or scavengers. It has become a violent trade, with clashes between police and traffickers becoming more common.

Zimbabwean army deserters have swelled the ranks of the Magumaguma, who have also been linked with organised criminal networks on the South African side of the border.

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There is more and it is not pretty. The Magumaguma are raping women seeking to cross and the people still have to fear being sent back to Mugabe's hell hole. South Africa for its own protection should depose the guy, but instead acts like an ally. Forget about the UN or any multilateral assistance.