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Namibia imposes tight visa restrictions for Zimbabweans
ZimOnline
March 27, 2007

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1106

WINDHOEK - Namibia has imposed visa restrictions on thousands of Zimbabwean vendors, including prostitutes, flocking to the country every month, as the economic meltdown in the former regional breadbasket slips to unprecedented levels.

Every month busloads of Zimbabwean vendors, with their handmade wares, arrive at the SOWETO market in Windhoek's Katutura township.

The impoverished Zimbabweans, who are being shut out in South Africa and Botswana, now hope to find relief in Namibia. They have to endure a journey of more than 2 500 km on a bus, sometimes taking three days, to travel to their new Mecca, Windhoek.

Last month a group of Zimbabwean prostitutes were arrested during a raid on brothels in Windhoek.

But pressure on the Namibian government by local vendors, who are being squeezed out of business by the thousands of Zimbabweans flooding the streets of Windhoek, has resulted in some restrictions being imposed on the length the cross-border traders can stay in Namibia.

The traders will now only be allowed to be in the country for a month. There will also be strict screening at the ports of entry.

"Those who come with nothing or with goods that are already available in Namibia will be sent back. We have to protect the business of Namibians," said a senior Home Affairs Ministry, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject.

Previously vendors coming to Namibia from Zimbabwe were allowed to be in the country for 90 days. Most of them over-stayed and had to be deported.

Now Namibian authorities want to restrict the number of Zimbabweans allowed through the border into the country.

Botswana and South Africa have also moved to limit the number of Zimbabweans entering the countries, in view of the escalating violence in Zimbabwe.

Botswana last week tightened its border controls fearing that the unrest in Zimbabwe could lead to a renewed flood of illegal migration.

South Africa has also tightened visa conditions for Zimbabweans as it battles to control the numbers of those flocking to the southern gate way.

Earlier this month, Zimbabwe's Industry and International Trade Minister, Obert Mpofu, said the Namibian authorities had tightened up on small traders coming to sell their goods in the country.

"Yes they told us that they want to control the number of Zimbabweans coming into the country. They are not extending the days of those already in the country, but we are in consultation with them to try and find a solution.

"Some of our people (vendors) are owed money by Namibians so we are saying they should not be kicked out of the country before they receive their payment," Mpofu said.

Mpofu was part of a group of senior government officials who accompanied President Robert Mugabe on a four-day visit to Namibia earlier this month. – ZimOnline

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