Zimbabwe exodus smothering SA
23/07/2006 11:02

Johannesburg - South Africa is battling to contain a flood of Zimbabwean immigrants as more people flee across the border to escape economic hardship in its northern neighbour, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

South Africa deported more than 51 000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants between January and June this year as "floods of people fled economic collapse," the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times said.

"The department of home affairs says it is now deporting 265 Zimbabweans a day. Last year, 97 433 Zimbabweans were deported compared with 72 112 in 2004," the paper said.

Zimbabwe is in the grip of a seven-year recession which has seen inflation skyrocket to nearly 1 200% and the southern African country's economy shrink by more than a third.

The country is also grappling with severe fuel shortages and a foreign currency crunch.

South African officials told the Sunday Times that they were battling to cope with the stream of Zimbabweans crossing the Limpopo River, the border between the two countries.

"The department of home affairs has taken a financial knock from the influx of illegal immigrants," the paper said.

Pretoria spent a total of R218m on immigration control last year - more than double the amount the department spent in 2004.

"The costs of detaining illegal immigrants have gone up from R22 per day per detainee in 2001 to R75 a day today," the paper said.

"On being deported, most of the deportees quickly find their way back into South Africa through makeshift entry points along the crocodile-infested Limpopo River," it added.

Zimbabwe's long-time leader President Robert Mugabe has in the past blamed Western sanctions targeting him and his inner circle as well as drought conditions for the current predicament, but critics largely point the finger at Harare's controversial land reform policies.

About 4 000 white commercial farmers have lost their land since Mugabe launched his fast-track land reform program in 2000 to redress the imbalances in land ownership from the colonial era.

Fewer than 600 farmers remain on their properties in Zimbabwe, once called the breadbasket of southern Africa.

Information supplied by www.fin24.co.za