South Africa immigration removes illegal Zimbabweans
January 04 2010 by Liam Clifford
There has been a swath of crackdowns on illegal South African visa holders.
Zimbabweans
living in South Africa illegally are being removed in large numbers, as a result
of a crack-down by the South African Home Affairs Department.
Most of the
people being told to leave were Zimbabweans who had moved to South Africa using
fraudulent passports obtained in their home country.
The move has left
many Zimbaweans stateless as their passports have been removed and Zimbabwe
officials will need to vet them before allowing them back into the
country.
The crack down started today and problems arose when several of
those told to leave claimed they were genuine South Africans. As a result, the
authorities now claim they will simply investigate the documents instead of
confiscating them altogether, in order to minimise the risk of confiscating a
genuine South Africa passport.
It has proven difficult for South African
immigration authorities to stop people using false passports. The fact that many
people hold such documents in the country has become an issue for countries like
the UK, which has introduced sanctions that now require all South Africans to
acquire a UK visa before travelling to the country.
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