Limpopo drownings a hoax?

Limpopo drownings a hoax?

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By Lebo Nkatazo

REPORTS that up to 60 Zimbabweans might have drowned while crossing the flooded Limpopo River into South Africa could be a hoax, according to new details.

The state-run Herald newspaper first made the claims that at least 18 Zimbabweans had drowned while trying to wad across the flooded river, a figure revised upwards in later editions.

And on Thursday, the Herald claimed that the South African Civil Protection Unit and sub-aqua units had been deployed and two helicopters scrambled to search an area of the Limpopo River for any bodies.

However, South African police on Thursday appeared to blow huge holes into the story when they DENIED any knowledge of the reported drownings, said to have taken place on Friday last week.

Ronel Otto, the Limpopo police spokesperson told the SABC Thursday: "The police in Limpopo are not aware of any drownings of a group of people in the Limpopo River. We did not get any formal request for assistance in a search or recovery operation".

Otto added that no police members, divers or helicopters from South Africa were involved in the search for people presumed to have drowned. He said the normal policing of the borderline continues and the river as well as its banks will be monitored.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's state radio reported Thursday that a search of the Limpopo River bank in the Dite area, 60km west of the border town of Beitbridge, had been called off with no bodies found.

State radio repeated Herald claims that South African police had taken part in the search together with their Zimbabwean counterparts, a claim that was becoming difficult to sustain after the denials from South Africa.

"The announcement [that the search was being called off] was made at a Beitbridge civil protection unit meeting held last night and chaired by the police officer commanding Beitbridge district," said the radio report.

South Africa has been battling to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from its struggling northern neighbour.

Last year alone, it deported 97 000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, but reports say many try to sneak back into the country, desperate to escape economic hardships back home. Sometimes groups of border jumpers hold hands to form a human chain as they try to cross the Limpopo. -- Sapa-dpa
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