How Malawians travel to South Africa without documents

December 18, 2019 Lowani Mtonga -Nyasa Times 41 Comments

There was a disturbing story in the local press recently about 19 Malawian women and children who spent over a month at Chipinge Prison in Zimbabwe for contravening Zimbabwe’s Immigration Act.

Malawians continue to trek to South Africa for economic reasons

The story says that of the 19 people, 14 were women and five were under-five children who were travelling to South Africa in a bus, but were intercepted by Zimbabwe police at a road block because they did not have travel documents. The story itself is not new. Malawians have been travelling to South Africa without passports or any form of identity for many years.

But how is it possible that people could travel to South Africa without travel documents? Some people blame porous borders. This is true, but only part of the story.  However, the major problem is corruption at border posts and road blocks from Malawi to South Africa. People who travel to South Africa without passports are actually trafficked by transporters (whether by bus or light vehicle), mostly from Mzimba and Mangochi, who bribe their way to South Africa. It is a multimillion kwacha racket that involves immigration officials and other security agents. And this is why it is difficult to curb the malpractice because law enforcers benefit from it.

The corruption starts at Malawian border posts such as Dedza and Mwanza.  Transporters pay huge bribes to law enforcers both on the Malawian and Mozambican side for safe passage. Sometimes transporters can stay at Dedza border a day or two negotiating their way through. Once in Mozambique, transporters have two options to use. One route is to go via Maputo and use the Lebombo border post with South Africa. Those who have used this route will tell you that it takes about two weeks to reach Johannesburg. Apart from the route being long, transporters have to pay bribes all the way to until they reach South Africa. And usually they travel at night because there are few roadblocks.  The passengers are subjected to untold suffering such as harassment from Mozambican police, hunger and exhaustion.

The second option is to use the Zimbabwean route which takes them through to Nyamapanda and Beitbridge.  Again, transporters bribe their way through. They popularly call it ‘kugula musewu’ (‘to buy the road’). Travellers who opt to use the Beitbridge route have to jump the border. Transporters arrange with private individuals to assist travellers to cross the crocodile-infested Limpopo River at great risk. Sometimes travellers have fallen into the hands of criminals known as ‘amaguma guma’ who have robbed them of their money and other valuables. In extreme cases, they have murdered travellers and raped women.

Once they cross the river, travellers walk for many kilometres before they reach Musina town from where they start the final leg of their journey to Johannesburg whose route has very few road blocks and rarely do they check travel documents.

 

The latest saga of undocumented women and children travelling to South Africa being apprehended in Zimbabwe should be seen as an unfortunate incident. The traffickers met ethical law enforcers who refused to take bribes. Otherwise these traffickers have been getting away with their criminal behaviour for many years courtesy of corrupt officials in Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa who receive colossal bribes to enable human traffickers drive through the check point with illegal immigrants.

So while fingers are pointing at porous borders for people travelling without documents, the main culprits are law enforcement agents at border posts and on the roads. If the vice is to be stopped, the starting point is to stop corruption at Malawian borders. Get those corrupt law enforcers behind bars! This a special message to the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Let investigative officers go to the border posts and observe what is happening there. It’s shocking!

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41 replies on “How Malawians travel to South Africa without documents”

  2. Munakweza passport anthu alibe ndalamayo atani munabera ndi ma mps omwe anzeru kuti musamatsutsidwe mfundo ZANU Malawia anatukuka chifukwa cha jon osati boma lanu pano mukukhomelera kuti anthu asapite angofa basi aliyense otsutsana nanu munam.bera anthu akuthawa mukuwatsskera njjra passport kukweza kuposa maiko onse apasi pathambo

  9. Problem is Malawi government the y just increasing passport like what the whole world’s it’s only Malawi it got expensive passport ananena kale Alucius banda kuti kufuna kutk amalwi angofa akasankha president akumukana kufunaazilamulira okha ma mps osagwilizana nawo iwo kubeledwa kumalawi kwachitika zisankho koma chapitachi otsutsa ma mps abeledwa cholinga asa.atsutse koma akati passport ikwere onse m,manja kwainuyo sindalama koma lebara ayi tengakuti apite opanda pass walakwa Malawi yatukuka chifukwa cha jon osati inu am.bomanu

    1. The question is why are so many people leaving Malawi? Poverty aggravated by political greed, limited employment to the few privileged, poor education, lack of visible development in some regions of the country are the key factors forcing the poor to take the risk to travel to RSA. Corrupt officials are thriving on this. To deal with this, sort-out issues of poor education, poor and biased development, do not vote for greedy and corrupt leaders, and mercilessly deal with corrupt officials who aid travelers without documents/passport.

  11. Corruption start with your leader he is a president but not chosen by people. What about crippled economy of malawi .

  12. Lowani, nkhani yako niyopelewera. The actual reasons why our fellow citizens are leaving Malawi undocumented are difficulty in acquiring passports as well as our dead economy. If our economy was right no sane human being would subject themselves to such terrible conditions. We do not hear comments from the government because it has no solutions. Sad.

  13. MALAWIANS,DO NOT BLAME SOUTH AFRICANS FOR NOT ALLOWING YOU IN THEIR COUNTRY FOR THIS IS TIT FOR TAT.DO NOT FORGET WHAT YOUR SELLOUT BANDA DID TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF SOUTH AFRICA DURING THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE OF THEIR COUNTRY.IF YOU DO NOT WANT TUMBUKAS IN THE SOUTH AND CENTRAL HOW ABOUT MALAWIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA?

  14. This story is true I was there in Chipinge police station,me just for two days but I was walking with ladies like I am zim boy,pliz pliz Malawians don’t come without proper documents other wise ladies they will be pregnated already.I have photos for the people jumped together with me,this is dirty journey,transporters I will mention them once they didn’t find my tab 10.1,Samsung galaxy.very,only Mangochi and Mzimba our camp 210people only one Zambian but ladies pliz don’t book ur ticket to unknown buses like Sikizi bus😁

  15. This is very true story. I recently traveled by an InterCape Bus to Joburg from Lilongwe. Out of 46 Passengers, only 10 had proper Passports. Money exchanged hands. Bus does not arrive on time because of these evil transactions. There is untold suffering of those being trafficked and even the ones that are travelling legally. Yet We have government officials, Ministers in SADC Region, especially Malawi whose citizenry is suffering. These just sit Phwii in offices, getting huge salaries payed by Tax Payers, the very people who are suffering. Could one Minister a true African Minister with morals and ethics take a trip to Joburg in disguise and will see what I am talking about. Above all, we Pan African Parliament which is just useless. They do not care about their Citizen. Another important point is the requirement that Malawians should show R3,500 to enter South Africa. The Border officials have capitalized on this. This is the issues that encourages CORRUPTION Right from the Borders in Malawi ,Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Can One President in SADC (especially Malawi President PETER MUTHARIKA or a concerned Minister in Malawi) rise to the occasion and reality and rescue Malawians from this Demon?And Members of Parliament in Zomba or Lilongwe please rise and come to the rescue of your citizens who voted for you and look into this plight and untold suffering of Malawians. I humbly appeal to the authority that .MALAWI SHOULD WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT ABOLISH THE REQUIREMENT OF MALAWIANS DISPLAYING THE HARD CASH OF R3,500 AND AUTHENTICATED BY A BANK IN MALAWI. What you should know is Malawians are the only ones in SADC Region that are subjected to this STUPID and unjustified demand which was put forth by Malawian Government to South African Government. This requirement put forth by Malawi Government is UNFAIR AND DISCRIMINATORY TO THE POOR MALAWIANS. I am a DISGUSTED AND CONCERNED LOVING MALAWIAN.

  17. Ngati akukapeza zofuna zawo asiyeni apite olo muwakakamire muwapatsa zofuna kapena muli ndi malo wokwanira mu ndende zathuzi? After all simunawabereke ndinu. Akatsamaya, muli kutali pa mdipiti wokayika nkhata. Our country, Malawi ndi dziko lokomera andale ndi azibale awo plus these foreigners n so called refugees/some NGO’s not indigenous pple or owners of the land n or ordinary citizens. Chabwino kwa iye is DREAMING IN COLOURS! Ngati akusiya dziko lawo kulowera ku South Africa wotsala inu khalani chifukwa zanu ndi abale anu zikutheka. Pafikapa ndiposawuzana zochita chifukwa you can’t even give away a spoonful of sugar to a street beggar without leaving you malnourished coz cost of a single grain of sugar manufactured by use of our own fresh waters n soils is perhaps as close as price of one barrel of gold. An economy which carries all the money from people’s pockets to itself n leaves its citizens in abject poverty is useless. Corruption is evil! But once corruption is successfully done those involved get another face of life. You don’t persecute munthu wooti amathawa ndewu. Provide an environment suitable for indigenous pple. Provide an atmosphere conducive for owners of the land. Denounce greed! Even if you accumulate too much for your belly you will leave everything behind when called by the ancestors in death. Your carcass will be stapple food for the same maggot that will feed on the one belonging to poor citizens who are suffering today. So don’t be too smart. ZONGOPAZA!

    1. NSANJIKIRO:
      MANGOCHI is where it is now chifukwa cha South Africa yomweyi. Musanamepo apo. Pitani ku Mangochi mukawone nokha musamanvomva. Boma limeneli litha kukhala Republic palokha litapatsidwa ma basic wosowekera n powers n can be zone or Province of self sufficient in food and anything you name it.
      ZONGOPAZA!

  19. The whole agenda of African Union is to have no country passports for Africans. This is good. Inu ngati simufuna kuyenda musalepheretse anzanu

  20. So, you are worried that people are going to South Africa without documents. You need to celebrate that South Africa can allow your people without papers. As Malawians, you should be worried of those coming into Malawi without documents.

  21. There is another one in Ntcheu called Biriwiri. People there stop at Ntcheu Boma waiting for darkness and they go to the boarder at dusk and they bribe the way to SA and the same happens when they are coming back. A ACB angopita pano pa xmas pano ndi nyuwere akawagwira. Even a MRA a pa Biriwiri ndi akuba. Go there mukapeza magalimoto thoo chonsecho ndi mseu wafumbi ndi matope.

  23. Very true and additional to that these so called Transporters charge a huge amount of money to the travellers of which they could even use to have a travelling document so far. Start now at our boarders Dedza and Mwanza you will see what these coward officers are doing

    1. Or muyowoye tilekengepo ng’ooooo kuluta kwambula passport. Pala tazge mwakwezga passport ndipo chiwelengero nacho chatawambulaso ma passport chikwelelengethu.wambula zeru ni awo wakupangana zakukwezga ma passport ngati wakutipokeleska ndalama oa mwezi

  24. The best way to prevent this South Africa flocking, abuses, corruption abuse and rape of our women is not by putting corrupt officers behind the bars HELL NO. Create enough opportunities so that these people who go to south Africa would be employed. But this clueless government is failing not that they can not but because they choose corruption and enriching themselves, by allowing Indians and Chines to take all the simple jobs like fuel attendants, cooks, office attendants and even security Guards and its own citizens are economic slaves in South Africa and you are here complaining stupid government.

    1. good option,again just imagine someone waiting for his passport for 4 months after paying instantly on the application date.Where are we heading to as a nation

    2. Even if opportunities are created in Malawi, that could not prevent Malawians to flock to South Africa. The problem is the difference in the Economies of the two countries. It is until Malawi economy grows to the level of South Africa, that is when the people will stop flocking. In the early 1950 – 1970 people were flocking to Zimbabwe (the Rhodesia) because the Economy of Zimbabwe was very high as compared to that of Malawi. Now that the economy of Zimbabwe has gone down, ( within the same level with Malawi 40,000,mil$ to 25,000 mil$) Malawians are not flocking to Zimbabwe. But now Zimbabweans and Malawians are flocking to RSA with the GDP (PPP) of 810,000 mil$). This is how things work. Mind you it will not be an easy job for Malawi to have the same purchasing power as RSA. A house girl in Malawi will be paid less as compared to a house girl in RSA until the economy of Malawi grows to the level of RSA.

  28. This is a very narrow-minded analysis. It just shows the writer has never traveled that route. The corruption is mainly with the Zimbabwe immigration. Many people go through only if they pay the Zim immigration. Simple. Those taken to prison is because they didn’t have money to pay. You say in the article, that its mostly women and children. Do you think all men have the papers? And, remember, we have kept Zimbabweans in Malawi for ages. We still keep most of them in Malawi. Please don’t write issues to make your own people look bad. And, who said we need the boarders? How many foreigners are in Malawi without papers? Do you know? Who are the ethical law enforcers in Zimbabwe? You are a joker.

    2. That’s very true, any person who has never seen a hyna can not describe it. When you are on an elephants back you don’t feel the dew. There are many problems which leads these people to travel without documents. Some are government policies on economy as you have put it, immigration incompetence and bribery, poverty, and corrupt is the last to solve and meets ones needs. My thinking was the same like the writer but after travel I got the point. Anthu Akaona kuti mwina sizikuwayendera they go for fast solution through not sustainable. Ask ajawa atawona kuti zikuvuta ndikugawa ma tippex ndi ma 18 Mita Kwa ma cleck aja Pano zawo zili pati. Make your research properly and point a finger in the right direction otherwise you will not outlay the proper solution. Never judge before you hear their side of the story

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