Measures put in place to curb child smuggling

BORDER authorities at Beitbridge have come up with a raft of measures to deal with cases of child smuggling between Zimbabwe and South Africa during the Easter Holidays.

The Assistant Regional Immigration officer-in-charge of Beitbridge, Mr Nqobile Ncube, said they had created a special compliance unit to monitor and deal with cases of smuggling of undocumented minors which is common during public and school holidays.

He said they had also put in place a contingent plan to facilitate the smooth flow of the anticipated increase in traffic from Friday when the Easter Holidays start.

“We have created a special compliance unit that will be focusing on child smuggling activities in and around Beitbridge. The team has the mandate to bring to account all child smugglers while ensuring that such minors are kept in safe custody pending re-unification with their bona fide parents,” said Mr Ncube.

“At the same time we want to make a special appeal to parents intending to travel with their children during this holiday to make sure they carry along valid passports and the requisite documents.

“These include an unbridged birth certificates (showing both names of father and mother of the child) and necessary affidavits where one of the parents is travelling with the child.”

He warned parents against leaving their children at the mercy of child smugglers who at times turn out to be dangerous criminals.

Mr Ncube said operations’ of all departments’ will be guided by an efficiency and management plan to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.

He said they had agreed in principle with their South African counterparts to harmonise operations as a way of improving efficiency.

“We have set the peak period between 27 March and 5 April and all departments have suspended off days and leave for their staff. In some cases there will be merging of shifts while other organisations will bring in relief staff from less busy stations.

“In addition, the police will enforce law and order and the 100 metres operational area to keep away and out of the border vendors, touts, beggars and criminals,” Mr Ncube said.

He said they have come up with categories: buses, returning residents, visitors, transit, motorists and commercial to control traffic.