Bus crews, the heartbeat of Beitbridge immigration...

Bus crews, the heartbeat of Beitbridge immigration cartels

Patience Muchemwa

Bus conductors are the first crucial link of the network facilitating illegal crossings and illicit activities at the bustling Beitbridge Border Post between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

They in turn feed the line of immigration officers, law enforcement personnel and outright criminals who include and ex- government officials on both sides of the border.

Illegal migrants include undocumented Zimbabweans as well as other nationalities, notably Somalis and Malawians who transit through Zimbabwe on their way to South Africa.

So organised is the cartel that they now have their own immigration and customs stamps. Passengers with expired visas, mostly Zimbabweans working in South Africa, entrust bus operators with their passports for “border clearance.” These passports are then stamped - not at official desks, but in the shadows of “pasi pemuti” (under the tree) - for a fraction of the fee.

The high cost of doing business

The alternative to paying the immigration cartels at the broder post, is that of using undesignated crossing points along the border known as “Kumvura” because one crosses the Limpopo River at places with no bridges.

There passengers are vulnerable to thugs who control the routes and are known to rob, rape and even murder their clients. Law enforcement officers tasked with patrolling the border also stand accused of being criminals of the same mettle as the gangs that control the crossing points.

So illegal migrants must pay the border cartels.

“If the passports are being stamped at legal office we pay R200 but if they are being stamped on illegal office (pasi pemuti) we pay R100 per passport,” reveals a bus conductor, highlighting the financial incentive driving the operation. He admits carrying over ten passports per trip, catering to those unable to travel due to their precarious immigration status.

The web of illegality extends far beyond fake stamps. Bus operators pay hefty bribes to bypass searches, appease drug-sniffing dogs, and avoid vehicle scans.

Law enforcement officers from both sides, including investigators, police, elite units and the army, allegedly demand their cut, with figures ranging from R200 to R800.

Sources paint a picture of a deeply entrenched, well-oiled system. A “mystery car” on the Zimbabwean side allegedly collects “not less than R1 000" from bus operators, while law enforcement officials stationed along the route demand their share. The practictitioners, sources claim, operates with impunity, 24/7.

“We pay R3 000 if we don’t want our bus to be searched, we pay R300 so that the police dog won’t come to the bus for drug search, we pay R500 so that our bus won’t be scanned at the border," revealed a source from cross-border bus operators, detailing the extent of bribery at the border.

“We pay R600 to CID, R200/R300 to the police, R600/800 to the army,” the source continued, highlighting the involvement of various law enforcement agencies.

“The bus fare to South Africa is R1000 to Johannesburg and to those who load Port Elizabeth and Cape Town its R1500 which is too little to pay for all the operators along the way. We need fuel for the bus, we also pay for the operators at the South African side and sometimes we travel with less than 50 passengers,” the source added, emphasising the financial burden placed on passengers due to the bribes.

A few bumps, but gravy train on track

While arrests have been made, like the 2019 apprehension of Trust Dhliwayo suspected of running a fake stamp ring, the issue persists. The Department of Immigration and other border agencies face an uphill battle against deeply ingrained corruption and a lucrative shadow economy thriving at the busy crossing.

Faced with Operation Dudula pressure, a disintergrating economy and imminent elections, the South African government has declared war on illegal migrants and taken steps to tighten loopholes.

In January this year as South African special operation deported dozens after stop and searches netted illegal migrants on cross border buses that had passed through the Beitbridge Border controls.

But with its own law enforcement compromised, as evidenced by arrests of police officers over cross border smuggling allegations, South Africa is unlikely to win the war against illegal migration on its own.

Open borders could be the answer

South African Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has called for an “Afrocentric” international migration policy which decolonises Africa.

This call has been supported academics such as Research professor in history and politics at the Wits Institute Achille Mbembe who says ‘coloniality of the border has led to “arrest, detention, incarceration, abandonment, and deportation” as the logic of border governance’.

This school of thought argues that by continuing to be bound by the borders of the Berlin Conference of 1884, African nations are creating problems out of inherited arbitrariness and artificiality and should be done away.

One of the main objectives of the SADC Treaty of 1992 is the promotion of policies that aim to eliminate obstacles to the free movement of persons in the region.

A draft Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons within SADC was introduced in 1996, but was replaced by the more restrictive Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons in 1997. The restriction was due to the income disparities that create imbalances in migration flows between member States.

This applies in this instance where people from different countries have been flocking to South Africa as it has been offering better economic opportunities and superior lifestyle standards.

The 1997 Protocol was further revised and adopted in 2005, which ensures granting visa-free entry, with lawful purpose, to citizens from other member States for a maximum of 90 days.

So far, only Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland have signed and ratified the Protocol and it is not operational due to limited uptate.

Although the Protocol is not operational, it makes provision for member States to conclude bilateral agreements for visa exemptions. South Africa and Zimbabwe have entered such an agreement and further enhanced free movement with 24 hour border access.

Moreover, there have been talks on a proposed single SADC passport initiative in the coming future further opening up borders.