controlling guidance of the extended family; the normal social inhibitors are not there, and there is nobody to report back to the family if they get involved in activities that they would not consider doing at home. Some Zimbabweans are undoubtedly involved in serious crime, including armed robbery and arms smuggling. Exact figures could not be established from Home Affairs; there are, however, references from time to time in the media. In March this year, 138 illegal immigrants were arrested in a police sweep of Hillbrow in Johannesburg. 126 The police reported they were looking for around 100 Zimbabweans who were suspected to be in organised crime gangs operating across the borders. Of those arrested, 30 were criminals wanted for crimes including murder, rape and armed robbery. In the news item covering this raid, the provincial deputy commissioner in Johannesburg is quoted as saying that Zimbabweans were behind a tide of armed cash-in-transit heists and bank robberies: they are referred to as having had “military training”, which would suggest those involved are defected soldiers from the Zimbabwean army. There are also press reports describing cross border gun smuggling. Again, a police spokesperson said the arms sellers were defected Zimbabwean soldiers desperate for money, who had run away with their weapons and who sold them to raise money for families back home.127 A further indication of organised crime along the border was given by the president of the Cross-Border Association of Zimbabwe in January 2004, when he threatened to name top Zimbabwean officials involved in shady deals on the country’s borders. Killer Zivhu, who is also a ZANU PF councillor for Masvingo, indicated there were crime syndicates involving Zimbabwean government officials operating with impunity.128 While it is certainly a minority of Zimbabweans who are involved in violent crime or gun trading, media reports on these issues have fed into a perception that all Zimbabweans are likely to be criminals, which has fuelled the xenophobia. Zimbabweans: victims of crime On the other side of the coin, illegal immigrants are vulnerable to being victimised without redress. Zimbabweans are at risk on a daily basis of having to pay bribes to South African Police and Home Affairs touts and officials in order to avoid deportation, and of being forced to work at extortionist wages. Far more serious crimes are also perpetrated against this group, with impunity. Interviewees related incidents of xenophobic assaults, murders, theft, and of rape. One 16 year old girl told of being forcibly held captive for two weeks by a taxi tout who does the Johannesburg-Musina run. She and four other girls were forced to have sex on demand with this man, until he left to collect another taxi load of girls from the border; at this point, they ran away. None of these crimes are ever reported or acted on; the victims would rather suffer in silence than be deported back to Zimbabwe. 126 City Press, Zim suspect nabbed in raid, 6 March 2004. SABC News, Illegal cross border gun smuggling rife in Limpopo, 17 August 2004. 128 The Sunday Mirror (Zim), Zivhu threatens to spill beans, 18 January 2004. 127 54