Graph 8 demonstrates how 66% of respondents indicated being detained with children in Limpopo.  According to a member of one of the inter agency committees in Musina that deals with children, there has recently been a decision to clamp down and reduce the number of children slipping through the cracks. She confirmed that Zimbabweans who are arrested in Limpopo are not detained for long, if at all and so there is little chance for a monitor to see and report the detention of Zimbabwean children. This push has resulted in more monitoring of detention cells in Musina; but it does not provide for or address the need for monitors or oversight of the minors living on the streets. The research team witnessed unaccompanied minors sitting by a fire on the roadside, selling food or working other ‘piece’ jobs. CHILDREN DEPORTED TO ZIMBABWE STATISTICS 201263 MONTH JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL 1 MAY TO 11 MAY TOTAL MALE 70 27 43 36 14 190 FEMALE 30 14 29 6 1 80 TOTAL 100 41 72 42 15 270 ii. Violence and Brutality In Limpopo we received several qualitative reports that arrests made along the border by the SANDF frequently involve violence. Box 7# Caught crossing border illegally. Severely beaten before deported In early March 2012, Sibongile Baloyi, an Ndebele speaking woman living in Diep Sloot, Johannesburg, received a jarring phone call from her husband Samuel*(not his real name). Samuel informed her that he and seven others had been arrested by immigration authorities while attempting to cross the border from Zimbabwe into South Africa the previous day. After his arrest, Samuel was allegedly taken to a police station in a small town in Limpopo province. He contacted Sibongile three days later to tell her that he had been transferred to another police station and that he was on his way to Beitbridge to be deported. Sibongile learned that the police had been beating 63 Report on Cross Border Coordination Meeting (meeting of civil society organizations). Pp 6-7. 39

Select target paragraph3

Add to table of contents