Zambian immigration authorities are struggling to cope with a sudden upsurge in Zimbabweans crossing the border to shop for basic products as the economic crisis in their home country bites deeper and its coming wheat harvest is expected to be the worst in years.
The immigration department in the southern border city of Livingstone said the number of Zimbabweans crossing into Zambia daily had risen from 60 to 1 000 persons, with long lines forming at the border post every day.
Immigration Public Relations Officer, Mulako Mbangweta, said they feared the situation was spiraling out of control in Livingstone — a tourist hub because of the nearby Victoria Falls.
”We now fear the security risks that can be posed by this swollen influx,” Mbangweta said.
She said most people crossed into Zambia to buy goods such as bread, corn flour and milk that are now unavailable in Zimbabwe and then returned home. South Africa and Botswana also have an upsurge in cross-border shopping.
Poor harvest
Zimbabwe’s Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, confirmed the expectations of many, saying experts predicted the wheat harvest would be the worst in years, below the 78 000 tonnes harvested last year and far short of the target 340 000 tonnes because of electricity shortages, which prevented farmers from irrigating the crop.
”In some areas farmers could go for four consecutive days without electricity. It became impossible to irrigate and complete the required cycles, resulting in the crop wilting,” the president of the Zimbabwe Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union, Wilson Nyabonda, told the newspaper.
Maize, rather than wheat is the staple diet of most Zimbabweans, but the disastrous wheat crop is likely to worsen bread shortages and serves to highlight the economic woes of Southern Africa’s former breadbasket.
The World Food Program appealed last week for $118-million to help more than 3,3-million Zimbabweans — more than a quarter of the population — facing severe food shortages.
Zambian immigration officer Mbangweta gave no estimates of the number of Zimbabweans sneaking into Zambia illegally and staying. But there is mounting concern among Zimbabwe’s neighbors that they will be swamped with destitute refugees as Zimbabwe’s crisis worsens.
Aziz Pahad, South African deputy foreign minister, on Thursday voiced alarm at predictions by the International Monetary Fund that Zimbabwe’s inflation may hit 100 000% by the end of the year. He said that neighbouring countries ”will not be able to sustain the levels of refugees”.
There are an estimated three million Zimbabweans in South Africa, most of them illegally.
Farmers on South Africa’s northern border have started a vigilante campaign against the illegal immigrants, accusing them of theft and of scaring away foreign tourists in game lodges along the border.
In a bid to tame the price increases, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s government ordered sweeping price cuts of up to 50% in June. But that merely worsened the shortages.
No choice
In rare welcome news for Zimbabweans, the Sunday Mail said that the government had repealed proposed legislation to limit the amount of products including cooking oil, flour and beef that Zimbabweans could import. This would have cut an increasingly important lifeline to desperate Zimbabweans who flock to the borders each day to shop in neighbouring countries
A 57-year-old Zimbabwean woman, Selina Nkhoma of Victoria Falls Town, said she had no choice but to shop in Zambia.
”Zambians should not be annoyed with us. We are only coming here to buy goods which are not available in our country in order to survive,” said the mother of seven.
Immigration official Mbangweta said she was worried about the numbers of people.
”We foresee a situation where there will be a lot of people on the streets such that we may face problems if people continue coming in such large numbers,” she said. – Sapa-AP