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Crime Reporter
AT least 2 865 Zimbabweans have been arrested in South Africa for committing various criminal offences between 2016 and this year, a situation that left Zimbabwe with the highest number of arrested nationals in the neighbouring country.

According to statistics by the Johannesburg Metro Police Department posted over the weekend, Zimbabwe had the highest number of arrested nationals during the past three years.

The statistics were posted on Sunday by the outgoing Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba.
South Africa Police Services (SAPS) arrested 2 865 Zimbabweans in the period in question, while Nigerians were second with 765 arrests.

SAPS also arrested 420 Malawians, 334 Tanzanians and 91 Ugandans.
The highest number of Zimbabweans were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, while others were arrested for theft and possession of counterfeit goods.

At least 691 of the Zimbabweans were arrested for murder, while 37 were nabbed for bribing South African officers.
Meanwhile, more than 30 Zimbabwean women suspected to be victims of human trafficking were rescued by South African police from brothels in eMalahleni, formerly Witbank, in Mpumalanga Province where their captors used them as sex slaves.

According to reports, the Zimbabweans were part of a group of 50 victims, among them males from other countries which included the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and locals.

South African provincial police spokesperson for Mpumalanga Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said the suspected victims of human trafficking were rescued in a pre-dawn raid on Friday last week targeting various houses in eMalahleni.

“As police, we acted on a tip-off and raided houses which were used as brothels in eMalahleni to rid the area of drugs and prostitution and rescued 50 foreign nationals,” he said.
“They were all undocumented, a majority of whom were from Zimbabwe.

“We also arrested more than 60 people for various offences, including prostitution, possession of drugs and human trafficking.”
Brig Hlathi said the area targeted was believed to be harbouring prostitutes, drug dealers and illegal foreign nationals.

“We raided that place informed by an incident that happened during the week in which a 39-year-old woman reported to the taxi people that she was subjected to severe rape and fed with drugs in a particular house in Witbank,” he said.

“The taxi rank people then went to torch three houses, as well as a business believed to belong to foreign nationals.”
During the operation, police barricaded the streets and raided the houses.
Brig Hlathi said similar operations would be conducted in other towns in the province.