SA police minister in fresh Zim attack

SOUTH African Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has claimed that undocumented Zimbabwean farm workers are behind a spate of robberies among other crimes committed in the neighbouring country, drawing rebuke and sharp criticism from the Zimbabwean community.

Minister Mbalula, who was responding to questions from an opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party official during the release of annual crime statistics in Parliament on Tuesday, said local farmers employing Zimbabweans who are staying in South Africa illegally should not cry foul when they get robbed or killed by the foreigners.

“It’s true that there are criminals who are stealing from farms, undermining farmers work, but equally there are farmers who are wrong, because they employ people from Zimbabwe as cheap labour and exploit them, and then those people turn against them and kill them and then it becomes a safety question,” SABC quoted Minister Mbalula as saying on Tuesday.

“So, I am saying to the farmers as I have met with them, stop that. Help me to ensure compliance, working with the department of labour. Don’t employ unregistered, undocumented foreigners in our country and when they turn against you, you blame the South African Police Service. We’ve got nowhere to find such people.”

The chairman of the Zimbabwean Community in South Africa, Mr Ngqabutho Mabhena, yesterday hit out at the minister, challenging him to produce evidence linking Zimbabwean farm workers to murders and robberies.

“There is no evidence suggesting that Zimbabweans