SA government declares war on Zimbabweans with fake passports

The Department of Home Affairs has launched a crackdown on illegal South African passport holders intending to enter or leave the country through the Beit Bridge border post.

Limpopo Mirror has established that the operation, which started on New Year’s Day, mainly targets Zimbabweans who are in possession of South African travel documents after having allegedly acquired national IDs fraudulently.

An official at the Home Affairs department at Beit Bridge, who declined to be named, confirmed the ongoing blitz to Limpopo Mirror.

“There is nothing new about the exercise; it is a just routine operation that Home Affairs conducts every year, especially after the festive season, to flush out foreigners who fraudulently acquired South African passports. There is a special team which was deployed to Beit Bridge by our head office to conduct the exercise,” said the official.

Some Zimbabweans using fraudulently acquired South African passports were turned away on Sunday and their travel documents were also seized.

All South African passport holders entering the country from Zimbabwe are reportedly going through a rigorous process of interrogation on presenting their documents to immigration officials.

One of the affected Zimbabweans using a South African passport said that when he arrived at the immigration counters, a female official started questioning him. “She then took my passport and gave me a form to complete, saying she doubted whether I was a genuine South African. I was ordered to go back to Zimbabwe.”…

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South Africa Today Africa – Southern Africa Zimbabwe News