The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration deported 1 231 aliens during the 2012-2013 financial year for entering the country illegally, committing crimes or overstaying their welcome.
Close to 70% of these immigrants were deported to Angola after being found in the northern and central regions by immigration officials.
The second largest contingent of deportations was to Zimbabwe, with 104 of that country’s nationals being expelled for illegal status or for having committed a crime.
These figures were contained in a ministerial annual report tabled in the National Assembly by the Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, last week.
The report dealt with illegal immigrants who were arrested, issued with a notice to leave Namibia within 48 hours or deported.
According to the Director of Immigration and Border Control in that ministry, Nehemiah Nghishekwa, there are many illegal immigrants in the country who are yet to be arrested.
“The figures [presented] are of those people we caught. We do not know how many are out there but they are,” said Nghishekwa.
He explained that many foreign nationals enter the country with a visitor’s visa but some of them do not renew that document when it expires.
Of those deported, Nghishekwa said some overstayed their visitor’s visas by one or two days and hence were brought before an immigration tribunal which endorsed their deportation to their countries of origin.
He further exonerated immigration and border control officials for the influx of illegal immigrants, saying the foreigners themselves are to be blamed.
“Mainly the borders with Angola, Zambia and partly Botswana... there are no fences or natural geographic features, it is just bushes. People are likely to walk across from one country into another. We are unable to police all these places.”
Geographic features that form borders are usually rivers, mountain ranges or deserts.
On the threat that these illegal immigrants pose to the country and its citizens, Nghishekwa said: “I do not want to comment on the threat but illegal immigrants are unable to get work and would resort to stealing as well as getting involved in to other illegal activities.”
WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA
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