Migration Across Zimbabwe Border Challenges Both Nations GlobalPress: Mozambique
Dorcas Mhlanga traveled to Mount Selinda Mission Hospital in Chipinge, Zimbabwe, to receive medical services. She says the services there are better than in Espungabera, Mozambique, where she is from.The region straddling the Mozambique-Zimbabwe line is"the same community." But that carries consequences for Zimbabwe's health care system, security and environment.
Despite official border points for regulated crossings, this illegal movement in and out of Zimbabwe along the porous border is common. Many travel to Mozambique to buy cheaper basic commodities, such as rice, fuel and cooking oil. Those from Mozambique cross over to buy commodities sold at cheaper prices in Zimbabwe or to seek services in hospitals and schools.
Tension and unrest across Mozambique, which started in 2013 between the Mozambican National Resistance Movement and government forces, has put a strain on the country's economy, weakening its systems, including health care infrastructure, according to the World Health Organization. Less than half of Mozambique's population has access to health care services, with just three doctors for every 100,000 people..
The situation extends back to the colonial period, says Francis Dube, a scholar of public health in this region and associate professor of history at Morgan State University in the United States. Fungai Sithole Mananga has been a casualty of livestock theft. He had left home in 2021 to look for employment in Johannesburg, South Africa, when he received word that his two cows had been stolen."My wife told me that they had followed the footprints of the cows and discovered that they had been transported through the porous border points," he says.
The police in Zimbabwe are aware of the situation, says assistant police commissioner Paul Nyathi, and have been conducting investigations. They've arrested several people who were smuggling goods into the country and attempting to bribe border officials. They also have carried out a special operation,"No to Cross-Border Crimes," which has proven successful in bringing those involved to account, Nyathi says.
While charcoal production is illegal in Zimbabwe and wasn't as prevalent in the country before 2010, unreliable electricity and high gas prices have created a market for it, according to a 2021 report by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
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