Story Providence Maraneli
THE International Organisation for Migration (IOM) delegation which is in the country to assess the strides made in addressing challenges faced by migrants is impressed by the work being done at the Beitbridge border post.
Being one of the biggest ports of entry in sub-Saharan Africa, Beitbridge Border Post plays a major role in facilitating the movement of migrants.
As such, the IOM delegation toured the port of entry to ascertain strides made by the government in conforming to international standards of migration.
“We have bilateral agreements with South Africa, so we liaise with our counterparts in South Africa on unaccompanied children before they are repatriated and we here in Zimbabwe then do the contact tracing and this makes the process seamless,” the Minister of State for Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs And Devolution, Honourable Evelyn Ndlovu said.
“In terms of self-repatriation, last year we had 193 318 and this year, from January to August we have 157 356, and we see that there is a notable increase in self-repatriation and this is attributed to our government’s migration policy which promotes self-repatriation.
“Last year we had a mapping exercise in South Africa and our laws were reviewed to accommodate migrants,” said the chairperson of the Council of International Organisation for Migration, Her Excellency Dr Katharina Stasch.
“We really appreciate the establishment of cross border migration management forum because it gave us a floor to intervene in labour issues involving all migrants,” Honourable July Moyo the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare noted.
With Matabeleland South being home to five major ports of entry, the modernisation of reception centres has improved efficiency.
“We have two big border posts in the province with these centres where migrants are received decently. These two facilities help us to give that humanitarian need that is shelter and food to our migrants and we really appreciate it,” said Minister Ndlovu.
Dr Stasch said she is impressed by the strides made in addressing migration challenges at the border post.
“I am impressed by what I saw here, the IOM and the government of Zimbabwe are doing a great job here and they are trying to get the benefits of migration, you know when migration is managed well it can benefit both countries, I am impressed by the work they are doing in terms of health and gender-related issues and this is good for everybody.”
The government is also negotiating with neighbouring countries on labour migration issues.
“As a government, through our labour policy and our migration policy, we want to negotiate agreements with countries. The most celebrated one which we worked on with IOM is the Rwanda one. We are working with Botswana on a memorandum and we are also working with South Africa, but in the meantime, we are working with the labour forum so that our people are paid their dues once they work outside the country,” said Minister Moyo.
Beitbridge border post is one of the biggest ports of entry in sub-Saharan Africa with an average of 4 million travellers cleared annually.
