BULAWAYO – Fourteen illegal immigrants from Ethiopia appeared before a court in Gwanda on Wednesday charged with immigration offences after they were arrested hiding in a village.
A fifteenth man was receiving hospital treatment for malaria.
Gwanda magistrate Charity Maphosa remanded the 14 in custody to April 22.
Prosecutor Mncedisi Dub said the men – who do not speak good English – are believed to have entered the country sometime between March 1 and March 25 through an as-yet-to-be-established border crossing.
Prosecutors believe the group travelled through several African countries by road – their destination Johannesburg in South Africa.
The men had enlisted the services of two cross-border transporters to help them enter South Africa illegally, but their best laid plans collapsed after South Africa closed its borders on March 26 as part of measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
Police were alerted to the presence of over a dozen foreigners at a homestead in Mawane One Village in the Swisha area of rural Gwanda.
Investigators swooped on the homestead at around 1AM on Tuesday, but one of the cross-border transporters identified only as Bheki escaped through a window.
Nyorovedzo Ndlovu, the owner of the homestead, told investigators the Ethiopians arrived about a week ago with his son, Ethan, and Bheki, who works as his assistant. Ethan then left for Beitbridge, where he lives, after buying food for the group.
Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi appealed for the public’s help in apprehending the two cross-border transporters, popularly known as omalayitsha.
Meanwhile, health authorities said one of the 15 suspects who was found to be having a fever was diagnosed with malaria and immediately hospitalised. Initial suspicions were that the man had coronavirus.
