SA Migration International

News Articles

South Africa: How Bus Drivers and Immigration Officials Fleece Zimbabweans in the December Holidays

Source: GroundUp (Cape Town), 18/01/2016

Like many Zimbabweans living and working in South Africa, I travelled
from Cape Town to Harare in the December holidays. Luckily all my
documents are in order, but for Zimbabweans who have overstayed their
allotted time or who do not have the correct documents, the journey is
a corruption nightmare.

Make no mistake, the journey is no joy even if your papers are in
order. The toilets on the buses are often blocked and smell
disgusting. And drivers are reluctant to stop to let desperate
passengers relieve themselves. Also, the bus fares in December are
inflated.

Bus drivers fleece travellers who do not have correct travel
documents.

I used the Eagle Liner bus company and made the border crossing at
Beit Bridge on 21 December.

After a passenger said the customary prayer in Johannesburg at the
beginning of the trip, one of the two drivers said: "Ladies and
gentlemen: All those who do not have proper travel documents come
forward one by one. We will solve your problems and we assure you of
no arrest by police till you have reached your destination."

About 20 of the 69 passengers went forward to negotiate with the
driver. They paid different bribe amounts ranging from R200 to R1000.

All was well till we arrived at the Messina Weighbridge inspection
point.

The driver tried to ignore the weighbridge route, at which all buses
have to stop, but the police flagged him down.

At the inspection point everyone was asked to disembark and our
passports were checked.

Passengers who had already paid a bribe to the drivers expected them
to stand up for them.

But one driver shouted as he got off the bus, "Please, those who do
not have passports take out R20 so that we give it to these
officials."

We queued for the weighbridge officials. Those who did not have valid
travel documents were screened out. The driver collected R20 from each
of these people. The weighbridge official and the driver went to the
back of the bus and all I noticed was that one of the officials
manning the inspection point pocketed something. Everyone got back in
the bus.

"This is unfair. Why are we again paying? Yet we had already given him
some money covering all this," said a passenger next to me. He
complained that the driver had already ripped him off in an exchange
rate deal.

I looked at his passport. There was no record of him having entered
South Africa. Fed up, he said that next time his wife would make the
trip, not him.

When we got to the South African side of the Beitbridge border post,
people who had problems with their passports gave them to the driver,
whose job it would be to organise official stamps.
Then two men came running to meet all of us as we got off the bus.
"Please, we are here to assist those whose passports have overstayed.
We negotiate for a certain amount and your passport will be stamped,"
said one of them.

No one paid attention.

Those of us whose passports were in order went into the immigration
office. Those whose papers were not in order hung around at the bus.
The driver came with us. I was interested to see whether the driver
would speak to the immigration officials about the passports he had
collected for stamping. To my surprise he produced his own passport
for stamping, but no one else's.

We did not spend much time at the South African side.
"Was my passport sorted out?" asked the passenger who sat next to me.
Looking very concerned the driver replied, "The officials asked me to
bring the passports some time next week so please can I have your
mobile number so that I call you when the deal is done."

Furious, the owner of the passport demanded back both his passport and
money, which the driver handed back to him. But most other people were
afraid to approach the driver.

On the Zimbabwean side if you do not have the correct travel documents
you have to pay R200 for a gate pass. This is not a bribe; it's an
official charge and it is processed smoothly, allowing you to enter
Zimbabwe.
However, some of the passengers without the right documents weren't
aware of this system and the drivers tried to take advantage. They
approached each of the 20 passengers requesting more money. It was
late at night, 11pm, and the drivers indicated that unless they were
given further bribes the bus would not be able to leave the border
before 6am.
"Please can you add more on what you have paid because we would like
to leave the border earlier. All the money you have paid is used up,"
said one driver.
Some of the victims were not patient anymore.
"Please give us back what we paid you earlier so that we can pay
directly to the police. We can no longer pay any money," said one of
the victims. But the drivers refused to refund them, and the bus
didn't move.
We finally departed the border, into Zimbabwe, at about 6am.

Search

Latest News

This was revealed in the 2025 Easter border operations report, which saw border management authority officials, saps officers and home affairs workers intensify efforts to prevent illegal travel into the country over the holiday period.JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean nationals have been identified as the leading individuals attempting to illegally gain entry into South Africa.... Read more...

THE High Court has nullified the re-registration of a birth certificate for a child born out of wedlock, ordering the Registrar-General to strike it from the records.This ruling declared the birth certificate invalid, questioning the legality of attributing paternity to a deceased man decades after his death.The dispute arose from a contested inheritance involving the late Lazarus Mkuduâs estate.Teresiah Mkudu, the applicant, sought a declaratory order to invalidate Ruvimbo Manyondaâs birth certificate, issued nearly 20 years after Mkuduâs death.... Read more...

Residents from 34 countries can now apply for a visa to South Africa online. There are now 34 countries that can apply for a visa to South Africa online, which National Treasury says will help attract more tourists and skills into the country.This was trumpeted in Wednesday`s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) as being one of the key successes of Operation Vulindlela. Operation Vulindlela is a joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury to assist in the acceleration of critical reforms needed to accelerate the economy.... Read more...