DA to visit Zimbabwe border post to see if SA can handle the influx

Following unrest in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where 12 people were shot dead and 68 others treated for gunshot wounds during a crackdown by security forces on protests. the Democratic Alliance (DA) said it would on Wednesday visit the Beitbridge border post.

Last week’s protests in Zimbabwe, which is in meltdown, were sparked by astronomical fuel hikes that saw petrol cost as much as R41 a litre – the highest in the world.

In a statement, the DA said its Team One SA spokesperson on immigration, Jacques Julius MP, “will visit the Beitbridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe on the Limpopo River.

“Due to the violence and unrest in Zimbabwe, thousands are seeking economic refuge and safety. Therefore, the DA will assess the readiness of Home Affairs officials at the border, while engaging with Zimbabwean nationals on the human rights violations they face back home,” said the statement.

“The DA has called on President Ramaphosa to take action with regards to the conflict in Zimbabwe. Vulnerable Zimbabweans are being forced to endure extreme suffering, fear and danger – now is not the time for quiet diplomacy.”

Experts have warned South Africa to expect an influx of “economic refugees” from Zimbabwe.

While relative calm has been restored to the capital Harare, political activist Gerber Ngwere fled to South Africa over the weekend and told The Citizen he was expecting thousands of his countrymen to follow suit, in light of political tensions and “impossible” economic conditions.

Ngwere said: “Things are going to get worse. We’re not expecting an end to this conflict yet because people are still being told to stay away from the city [Harare].

“Right now as we are speaking, the leaders of Zanu-PF are fighting among themselves for power. There is a faction that is trying to have [Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga] recalled and forced to step down. On Friday, Chiwenga had a meeting at the military headquarters to mobilise for the recall of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.”

Harare-based senior Institute of Security Studies researcher, Derek Matyszak, said while the violence may have abated, he expected a mass exodus of economic refugees as the livelihoods of hundreds of civil servants had been ground to a halt by Zimbabwe’s dire situation centred around the counter-productive electronic currency introduced by Mnangagwa’s regime.

Matyszak said South Africa could have saved the situation – if only temporarily – had it lent Zimbabwe the $1.2 billion (R17 billion) the country requested.

Zimbabwe has reportedly been trying to raise $2 billion to service its massive loans which were in arrears, preventing the country from accessing any more credit from international financial service institutions.

“That money could have been used to service some of the debt it owed to the African Development Bank and the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and this would have opened up opportunities to get more credit from institutions such as the World Bank,” he said.

But Matyszak added that given Zimbabwe’s dire economic situation, it would be difficult to say when it would afford to pay back such a loan from South Africa or any other potential creditors.

– Background reporting, Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni

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