Harare | Wednesday
AN estimated 8 000 Zimbabwean workers have left South Africa since Friday, apparently unaware of an agreement that postponed their deportation, the state-run Herald newspaper said on Wednesday.
South Africa had ordered the deportation of some 15 000 Zimbabweans working on farms near the border, but agreed to postpone their repatriation after farmers sought an interdict from the Pretoria High Court.
But the Herald said 8 000 workers, hoping to avoid South African authorities, had slipped back across the Limpopo River, which runs between the two nations and which is very low as the region nears the end of its dry season.
South African farmers had driven the workers to the riverside, so they could cross back into Zimbabwe, the paper said.
Thousands of workers were now camped in the bush, scrounging for food and planning to return to their jobs in South Africa as soon as possible, the paper said.
“Our employers still want us on the farms, but they said they were afraid of being fined by the South African government. They told us to hang around the border area and find our way back after Tuesday next week, if possible,” one worker said.
South African soldiers along the border told the paper that they had allowed thousands of Zimbabweans to leave the country through illegal border crossings, but would not allow them to return.
“On Friday, thousands of farm workers crossed back into Zimbabwe, but now the figures have reduced to two or three people at a time,” one soldier told the paper.
“Since Friday they were busy crossing back into Zimbabwe, but we are not allowing anyone back into South Africa.”
The South African government hopes to open jobs for its own nationals by deporting foreign workers from the impoverished Northern Province, where unemployment stands at 34%, according to 1999 government statistics. – AFP