™ƒ–‹ ‹‹‰”ƒ–• ƒ””‡•–‡†

MBABANE - Over 82 emaSwati have been nabbed in the past two months for travelling in and out of neighbouring South Africa without valid travel documents.

This was confirmed by South African Police Services (SAPS) Spokesperson Mavela Masondo who mentioned that they had become strict when it comes to illegal immigrants.

He said this was because more and more people from Eswatini and other neighbouriong countries were defying the law and chose to use informal crossings.

Tightening

“We are tightening all screws with regards to illegal crossings. For instance our data collected during the festive showed that over 82 people were nabbed and charged from Eswatini alone,” he said

In addition, he said Eswatini was not the only country with nabbed immigrants, he mentioned other countries like Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Over the weekend the SAPS, acting on the instruction of the Ministry of Home Affairs in South Africa, were arresting and fining foreigners, including emaSwati without travel documentation.

The fine for the illegal immigrants was said to be between E4 000 and E5 000.

At least 26 emaSwati were nabbed and fined for using informal crossings. Masondo said this was part of their new year exercise. During the arrests, the documentation needed by the police included a valid South African identification card.

ENews24 on its online platform shared that emaSwati were being nabbed because they were found without their travel documents while some had fake COVID-19 certificates.

Detained

Ministry of Home Affairs Communications Officer Mlandvo Dlamini said even though such issues were dealt with by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, they had not yet received any information about the detained emaSwati.

Dlamini said the issue of informal crossings was a big one and that strategies to prevent it were being developed and were underway.