Every year during the festive season at Beitbridge Border post, travelers to and from South Africa have to endure degrading and dehumanising treatment and verbal abuse at the hands of the South African immigration officials of the Home Affairs department.
This year was no different but it was exasperated by the ebola screenings happening at the border on the SA side. The recipients of the abuse this time were the daily pedestrians who were coming to do shopping. They were literally herded like cattle on the pedestrian section of the bridge in the scorching sun. One wonders if it had rained if the officials would have been concerned?
06:07 Enter Zimbabwe! Guys the sight I saw on the bridge just broke my heart. #BeitBridgeBorderReport
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) December 10, 2014
680 000 pass through Beitbridge Border from SA to Zim in Dec 2015, a drop from 1.1million in 2014 @radiodialoguefm #BeitbridgeBorderReport
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) January 4, 2016
The SA side is characterised by long queues, which result in long delays. It seems the immigration officials find pleasure in seeing fellow Afrikaans in queues. Each time I go through Beitbridge I always ask myself WHY do they do this to us? What if the tables were turned one day?
05:06 Ripe for corruption. A dude getting paid to bring people from outside and slip them in at the front. #BeitBridgeBorderReport [1/2]
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) December 10, 2014
some women having none of and they pull the person who bought their way to the front out of the queue! #BeitBridgeBorderReport [2/2]
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) December 10, 2014
05:17 senior citizens should have thwir own queue or at least send em to the front. Elderly couple near me. #BeitBridgeBorderReport
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) December 10, 2014
SA immigration officer comes back to his station and says "Nadzoka manje" starts singing "Handina mari muhomwe…" #BeitBridgeBorderReport
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) August 15, 2015
Over the years I have been documenting my experiences whenever I have been crossing the border and you can follow these at the tag #BeitBridgeBorderReport.
Okay so we didnt get off at the Foot & Mouth / #ebola screening gate but the queue of buses on the SA side😨 #BeitbridgeBorderReport
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) April 10, 2015
Now with this whole 'supporting documents' saga. Without policing all it does is open another window for corruption #BeitbridgeBorderReport
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) May 30, 2015
Dont get the logic of getting people to leave the confort of their bus to come out and stand in long winding queues? #BeitBridgeBorderReport
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) August 15, 2015
Had my first #Ebola test today. I passed. But I demand to have the same test next time I use OR Tambo. #BeitBridgeBorderReport #HomeAffairs
— Baynham Goredema🇿🇼 (@bayhaus) January 22, 2015