2 000 arrested in border towns last week

By Violet Gonda
7 June 2007

More and more Zimbabweans fleeing repression are being rounded up in border towns. According to newspaper reports police arrested close to 2 000 people, many of them border jumpers, in a weeklong operation on the Botswana and South African borders.
The state controlled Herald reported on Wednesday that the police operation dubbed "Border Clean-up," rounded up 501 border jumpers, 188 touts, 605 prostitutes, 98 illegal vendors, 151 public drinkers and 393 illegal foreign currency dealers. The police netted Z$4,8 million from fines in a blitz that ended last Friday.
Matabeleland South provincial police spokesman Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe told the newspaper the swoop was aimed at ridding the border towns of criminal elements. It’s reported more than 8 000 people have been arrested since the border patrols started last year.
But critics say the crackdowns will not stop the amount of ‘illegal’ traffic that is taking place as thousands of Zimbabweans continue to flee the country to escape the economic crisis. Some are border traders who go to neighboring countries to source goods for resale back home.
It’s estimated that up to four million Zimbabweans have left the country for neighboring countries and as far afield as Britain, USA and Australia.