Sick Zimbabweans are crossing the Limpopo river and breaching the South Africa border to get medical attention in Musina.
Some of those caught by patrolling SANDF members are shoppers who occasionally smuggle groceries from South Africa to Zimbabwe.
Watch an interview taken by a SANDF member below:
In the video, a SANDF member is heard asking one of the border jumpers the reasons behind them crossing into South Africa to which the woman responds that she had gone to seek medical care as medical facilities in Zimbabwe are not working.
One of the woman was asked the reasons behind her decision to jump the border. She replied, “We are trying to Messina but we are not allowed to pass the border. In Zimbabwe there is no treatment if you fall sick. There are about one thousand people in the bushes right now.”
She was asked about the time that they left Zimbabwe and she replied that they left at am heading towards South Africa. Asked why they run upon seeing soldiers, she replied she could not run since she is sick.
“I don’t manage to run because i’m sick,” she said
She also revealed it was her first time to cross the border but other do that frequently. The SANDF member is heard asking the border jumpers to follow him as he was going to assist them to cross back to Zimbabwe.
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In the video, other Zimbabweans are seen carrying boxes of groceries from they have bought from South Africa
The soldiers later assured the Zimbabweans that they would assist them to cross the border back into their country.
South Africa faces a huge influx o Zimbabwean border jumpers despite erecting a R37 million border fence in April. The border fence was declared a joke by smugglers who revealed they did not take more than five minutes to cut it.
Read More: ‘We cut it in 5 minutes’ Zimbabwean border jumpers laugh at new R37m Beitbridge border fence