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Obert Chifamba Manicaland Bureau
Plans to establish a “One Stop Border Post” facility, as well as expand and modernise operations at Forbes Border Post in Manicaland are underway, Zimbabwe Immigration public relations officer Ms Canisia Kudakwashe Magaya has said.

Responding to questions from The Herald on the department’s capacity to handle the high volumes of people currently passing through the border against the small-sized office that is handling the business, Ms Magaya said Border Efficiency Management System had the ultimate goal of establishing one stop border posts and Forbes was earmarked for that as well.

“This will be done through the public private partnership arrangements.

“Companies that have shown interest in such arrangements have toured the border and modalities are being worked on to follow that trajectory.

“This will ultimately ease problems of space and big volumes of human traffic handled at the border,” explained Ms Magaya.

She added that efforts were already underway to expand and modernise Zimbabwe’s borders, Forbes included, in line with the ease of doing business reforms that are currently being recommended and implemented by Government across most economic sectors.

On the issue of the influx of refugees coming in from neighbouring Mozambique to escape civil unrest and the department’s capacity to cope with the growing numbers while ensuring the situation does not become a threat to national security, she said Zimbabwe was obliged under the African Union and United Nations Conventions to receive refugees and vet them while they are in the country.

“The department has a thorough vetting process and works in conjunction with other security departments at the border in vetting asylum seekers.

“Exclusion clauses are used in determining the admissibility of such applicants into the country.

“As Zimbabwe, we have an encampment policy, which confines refugees and asylum seekers to camps. This policy guards against any form of security risks, as the refugees only go out of the camp upon authorisation. The Zimbabwe Refugee Committee is mandated to vet all asylum seekers.”

The committee, she said, comprised security departments, as well as the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, which demonstrated that the security of the country was of paramount importance before admitting an asylum seeker into the country and subsequently granting them refugee status. There has been a surge in numbers of Mozambicans fleeing civil war from their country into Zimbabwe.

A refugee officer with the Commissioner for Refugees in Zimbabwe Mr Johanne Mhlanga once indicated that there were at least 5 546 Mozambicans residing in Manicaland.

Mr Mhlanga said 2 696 of the refugees were in Chipinge East, 2 435 in Chipinge South and Musikavanhu constituencies while a further 415 were in Nyanga North.