South Africa December 2006 |
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| Zimbabweans Flock Home for Festive Season, (The Herald, 2006-12-19):-Activity at the Beitbridge border post -- the busiest entry and exit point in the country -- has heightened even further as more Zimbabweans based in South Africa flock home for the festive season. The number of returning residents is reported to have peaked on Friday evening. Immigration and customs departments from Zimbabwe and South Africa have come up with a host of measures to ease congestion at the border post. More immigration and customs officials have been deployed on both sides of the border. Traffic has since been separated into three categories: commercial, bus and private vehicle. Pedestrians have also been separated from vehicular traffic. The red and green route zones have been activated to separate those with goods to declare from those without. On the South African side of the border, pedestrians are being cleared outside the main hall. Both the South African Revenue Service and immigration officials have pitched tents to facilitate the smooth flow of people and traffic. Travellers are being processed much more quickly and efficiently at both borders in comparison to the same period last year. Beitbridge principal immigration officer Mr Dennis Chitsaka said that they would soon open up more filter gates to ensure that travellers were expeditiously cleared. He said the number of returning residents had increased to over 15 000 a day. Under normal circumstances, they clear 8 000 to 10 000 people. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has also pledged to work with the police in ensuring maximum security in the border area. Zimra communications manager Ms Priscilla Sadomba said the authority had fully prepared to ensure a smooth flow of operations throughout the festive season. Meanwhile hundreds of Zimbabweans have thronged Mussina and Makhadho towns in South Africa for shopping as the Christmas fever hots up. Cars with Zimbabwean registration numbers were dominant in the towns at the weekend. Most of them were loaded with groceries, which are significantly cheaper across the border. Other shoppers had bought clothes and household electrical goods. Shop owners in the two towns said business was brisk to the extent of overwhelming them and they had to increase stocks to cater for demand at this time of the year. Rice and cooking oil featured prominently among the groceries, which were being bought in bulk by the shoppers. "Every year during the festive season, we come to buy groceries here because they are a much cheaper," said a shopper from Harare. Mussina and Makhadho have become a hive of activity due to the influx of Zimbabwean shoppers. Taxis are seen shuttling around the towns and the border post, ferrying groceries. Illegal foreign currency dealers are also capitalising on the situation as many people exchange their Zimbabwean dollars for South African currency for shopping. Sources in Mussina said they expected the number of shoppers to increase this week. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |