Human traffickers exploit Zim’s laws, turn
Human trafficking and smuggling syndicates have devised ways to duck local immigration regulations at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport amid indications has become a transit route for illegal trafficking of Ethiopians and Pakistan nationals’ en-route to South Africa.
A 2022 report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that in 2021, 27,6 million people around the world were living in modern slavery.
Data from cases that IOM assisted over the last 10 years show that nearly 80% of international human trafficking journeys cross through official border control points, including airports.
Preliminary investigations carried by Alpha Media Holding’s investigative journalism unit, Truth Diggers, show improvements in enforcement processes at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport have led trafficking networks to seek new sieves and have found loopholes in the country’s immigration laws.
According to the Immigration Act, nationals of most countries are permitted to pass through Zimbabwe without a transit visa as long as they remain within any of the country’s international airports and do not stay there for more than six hours on the same calendar day.
However, Pakistani and Bangladeshi passport holders are required to have a Zimbabwe transit visa no matter the intended transit time.
Sources at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport said while OR Tambo and
Cape Town airports in South Africa are traditional hubs of human trafficking and smuggling, the Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe airport has become a favourite transit route for the traffickers.
They indicated that Eswatini Air was the airline of choice for traffickers in transit to South Africa via Eswatini.
Ethiopians in particular are said to be taking advantage of Zimbabwe’s Immigration Act that does not require them to get transit visas to use the RGM airport enroute to Eswatini.
They allegedly avoid flying directly to Eswatini to circumvent smuggling rings that work with corrupt airline employees that provide them with flight manifests, which they use to identify people trafficked by rival groups, whom they turnover to the authorities.
From Eswatini, the immigrants cross over into South Africa using land borders.
“Zimbabwe is being used as a transit port by Ethiopians going into Swaziland using Eswatini Air,” said a source at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Local immigration officers say they cannot deny them entry because they will be transiting to Eswatini.
"Normally, the numbers of those in transit range from 10 to 15 per day and they come mostly aboard Ethiopian Airlines."
Passengers that are in transit in Harare are not subjected to screening
The source said it was now difficult to enter Zimbabwe directly and human traffickers were now using transit routes since the country’s immigration laws don’t require transit visas.
“We managed to stop it because traditionally they used to come via Zimbabwe then South Africa, but after that expose` in (The Standard) in May last year, they devised new ways of transiting via Harare taking advantage of loopholes in the Immigration Act, which doesn’t require transit visas,” he said.
Sources said the Addis Ababa to Johannesburg route was traditionally the most preferred by traffickers, but Harare has been added to the list.
This investigation established that trafficking networks work with employees of different airlines.
“It’s a syndicate,” said another source.
“When these immigrants leave their countries of origin they are told by their ‘agents’ to carry at least US$1 200 to facilitate their move to South Africa.
“It’s either they are helped to board planes to South Africa or Eswatini.”
Several immigrants on transit pass through Robert Mugabe International Airport on a daily basis, sources said.
“It’s big business,” the source said.
Eswatini Air, which is operated by the Royal Eswatini National Airways Corporation (RENAC), introduced Harare flights in April last year.
The airline flies to Zimbabwe four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
RENAC marketing and communications manager Batsabile Loveness Nkambule distanced Eswatini Air from the human trafficking allegations.
“The airline is not aware of such cases as none have been reported so far,” Nkambule responded via e-mail.
“As an airline, our role is to check the relevant documents necessary for our passengers to board our flights and these include passports and visas where applicable.
“We have good relations with the airports of all destinations we operate to, and we work very closely with the immigration departments of all countries we fly to, especially those based at the airports.
“The final decision to board an aircraft lies with the immigrations offices of both the country of origin and arrival.”
At the 2018 International Air Transport Association annual general meeting, airlines reaffirmed their commitment to several actions to help counter human trafficking including sharing of best practices and staff training.
“We are willing to cooperate with the relevant authorities in investigating this matter if need be,” Nkambule said.
This investigation revealed that facilitation of passage for immigrants is done before hand from the time the human trafficking victims leave Addis Ababa Bole.
According to the Global Initiative against Transitional Organised Crime, Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is emerging as a new conti