VZCZCXRO1415
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0157/01 0601017
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 011017Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1167
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1487
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1343
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1491
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0177
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0752
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1117
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1546
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 3943
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1314
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 1970
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC//DHO-7//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1708
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK//DOOC/ECMO/CC/DAO/DOB/DOI//
RUEPGBA/CDR USEUCOM INTEL VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ23-CH/ECJ5M//

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000157 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR PRM/AFR M. LANGE 
AF/S FOR S. HILL 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN 
USAID FOR M. COPSON AND E. LOKEN 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM PGOV ZI SF
SUBJECT: IOM RECEPTION CENTER PROVIDES MUCH NEEDED RELIEF 
 
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Summary 
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This cable is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet 
distribution. 
 
¶1. (U) Poloffs from Embassies Harare and Pretoria met on 
January 30 in the town of Beitbridge, Zimbabwe to tour the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) Reception 
Center for Zimbabweans deported from South Africa.  Since 
opening its doors, the IOM Center has provided much needed 
relief to deportees as well as the overburdened local police 
and health and social service providers.  Zimbabwean 
immigration officials use a building at the IOM Center to 
process all deportees returning from South Africa.  After 
in-take by Zimbabwean immigration, approximately 50 percent 
of deportees use IOM's services, including food assistance, 
medical and psycho/social attention and transport home.  The 
IOM Center does not provide shelter to adults but does for 
unaccompanied children. 
 
¶2. (U) IOM estimates that South African authorities deport 
over 300 Zimbabweans every day and deportations are on the 
rise.  Many of the deportees report they are subject to abuse 
by South African police and border officials.  IOM's future 
plans for Zimbabwe and South Africa include implementing a 
formal registration system at the IOM Center, collaborating 
on a guest worker program with the Zimbabwean and South 
African Governments and opening additional facilities along 
the Zimbabwean border with South Africa and Botswana.  End 
Summary. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
The Center Provides Much Needed Services 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Nick Van Der Vyver, director of the IOM Reception and 
Support Center, gave a tour of the facilities to poloffs on 
January 30.  Funded by the U.K. and Sweden, the IOM Center 
located in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe on the border with South 
Africa, opened in May 2006 to receive Zimbabweans deported 
from South Africa.  The IOM Center with a staff of nearly 40 
is open 7 days a week - 365 days a year.  Save the Children 
Foundation Norway (SCFN), in cooperation with the Zimbabwean 
Government Ministry for Social Welfare, began providing 
services to unaccompanied children at the IOM Center in July 
¶2006.  IOM also provides Zimbabwean immigration authorities a 
building that is segregated from the rest of the reception 
center to process all returning deportees.  After in-take by 
Zimbabwean immigration, approximately 50 percent of deportees 
use IOM's services, including food assistance, medical and 
psycho/social attention and transport home. 
 
¶4. (U) The IOM Center does not provide shelter to adults, 
except in rare cases.  Adult deportees choose either to be 
released into the Beitbridge area or accept transport home 
the same day.  The IOM Center also has segregated facilities 
to provide shelter for up to 40 unaccompanied children at a 
time.  From July to December 2006, over 1,000 unaccompanied 
minors received assistance from the children's services unit 
at the IOM Center.  The children usually stay for a few days 
as case workers from the GOZ Ministry of Social Welfare 
arrange for placement with families or in an orphanage. 
 
HARARE 00000157  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) Before the IOM Center opened, South African Government 
(SAG) authorities dropped off the deportees at the local 
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) station where they were 
quickly released into the Beitbridge area.  According to Van 
Der Vyver, local government officials blamed the resulting 
large transient population for the rising level of crime in 
Beitbridge, including an increase in prostitution, sexual 
assaults and petty crime.  The transient population also 
reportedly placed a large burden on the already strained 
local health and social services in the area.  Van Der Vyver 
reported that local government officials have been pleased 
with the much needed relief IOM has provided. 
 
------------------------ 
Deportations on the Rise 
------------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) According to GOZ data, SAG authorities deported 
109,532 Zimbabweans in 2006--more than double the 49,788 
deported in 2005.  Van Der Vyver told us that in the past few 
months 300 to 400 Zimbabweans have been deported from South 
Africa every day.  Van Der Vyver believed the increase in 
deportations was likely explained by stepped-up SAG 
enforcement in response to the massive influx of Zimbabweans 
heading to South Africa to escape the worsening economic 
situation at home. 
 
¶7. (U) According to Van Der Vyver, the vast majority of the 
deportees were young males 18 to 24 years old from the 
southern provinces of Zimbabwe--especially Masvingo, 
Matebeleland South, and Bulawayo.  An estimated two-thirds of 
deportees tried to cross illegally back to South Africa 
again.  (Note: Neither the GOZ nor the IOM Center currently 
has a system to register and track deportees.  End Note.) 
 
¶8. (U) Additionally, Van Der Vyver said illegal crossings and 
deportations would likely continue to rise in 2007 because 
the GOZ has stopped issuing passports except in special 
cases, which makes it difficult for the average Zimbabwean to 
acquire necessary documentation for legal travel.  On 
February 21, the government-controlled daily The Herald 
reported that the Registrar General's Office had a backlog of 
300,000 applications for passports and did not have funding 
to purchase the special paper and ink required to produce 
them. 
 
----------- 
The Process 
----------- 
 
¶9. (U) Van Der Vyver explained that RSA authorities rounded 
up most undocumented Zimbabweans during raids on farms and 
factories rather than in the act of illegally crossing the 
border.  An estimated 80 percent of the deportees were caught 
in the Limpopo Valley, a vast agricultural and mining area in 
northern South Africa. 
 
¶10. (U) On the day of our visit, we saw SAG buses off-load 
close to 500 Zimbabweans in the late afternoon.  The 
deportees queued up and filed steadily through a building for 
a quick interview by Zimbabwean immigration officials.  Van 
Der Vyver explained that the line usually only stopped when 
there was a doubt about the individual's Zimbabwean 
 
HARARE 00000157  003 OF 004 
 
 
citizenship.  (Note: The deportees have included in the past 
Mozambican, Congolese and even Somali migrants.  End Note.) 
The deportees then gathered in a shaded area where IOM 
representatives provided information about the importance of 
safe and legal migration and reviewed the other IOM services 
offered. 
 
¶11. (U) After hearing the IOM pitch, the deportees were free 
to leave or make use of the IOM services.  Several of the 
deportees poloffs interviewed said they would accept the hot 
meal and transport home, but would likely cross again in a 
few weeks to look for work.  Most blamed President Mugabe for 
Zimbabwe's problems and were just "waiting for the Old Man to 
die." 
 
---------------------------- 
Migrants Vulnerable to Abuse 
---------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) According to Van Der Vyver, many women and children 
fell victim to criminals and corrupt officials along the 
border.  Although less than five percent of the deportees 
reported abuse, IOM believes abuse rates were likely much 
higher given victims typically do not report abuse as a 
result of cultural sensitivities and the belief authorities 
will not act.  A significant number of Zimbabwean parents 
live in South Africa and want their children to join them 
there, leading the parents to hire smugglers to bring their 
children illegally across this border.  With large-scale 
child smuggling, children become easy targets for deception, 
prostitution, theft, rape and corruption while in transit. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Van Der Vyver told us that SAG authorities also 
contributed to the abuse of migrants as police and 
immigration officials sometimes confiscated documents from 
Zimbabweans legally in South Africa and then deported them. 
Additionally, Van Der Vyver said that IOM had received 
reports of SAG officials sometimes physically abusing 
deportees and denying them medical attention.  Van Der Vyver 
said that even if a victim filed a complaint, it was 
difficult to get any officer charged, much less convicted. 
 
------------ 
Future Plans 
------------ 
 
¶14. (U) Due to the increasing number of deportations and the 
associated crimes and abuse against migrants, IOM's future 
plans for Zimbabwe and South Africa included implementing a 
formal registration and tracking system at the IOM Center, 
collaborating with the SAG and GOZ on a guest worker program 
and opening additional IOM facilities along the border 
(specifically in Messina, South Africa across the border from 
Beitbridge and in Plumtree, on the Zimbabwe side of the 
border with Botswana).  The IOM Center also hoped to bolster 
its protection staff and to improve its outreach on health 
and safe migration campaigns.  Van Der Vyver said these plans 
definitely had the support of GOZ authorities; however, 
"everything always moves slowly with the government" and 
funding remained a challenge. 
 
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Comment 
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HARARE 00000157  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶15. (SBU) The IOM Center in Beitbridge is little more than a 
band-aid on a gaping wound.  Most of the Zimbabwean deportees 
will again cross illegally into South Africa, many the same 
day.  The IOM Center, however, provides important relief and 
protection for a vulnerable population.  IOM's work with 
children and women is particularly valuable and worthy of 
support.  The reality is that the flow of illegal migrants 
from Zimbabwe to South Africa will continue to accelerate 
until the economic and political situation in Zimbabwe 
improves.  End Comment. 
 
¶16. (U) This cable was cleared by Embassy Pretoria. 
DELL