Bodies found near Zim border

2008-07-10 11:01

Johannesburg - Limpopo police have found the bodies of two men believed to be Zimbabweans on a farm near the Beit Bridge border post, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

Inspector Francois Celliers said the decomposed bodies were found in a field at Eberstein Farm near Musina at the weekend, about 30km from the border.

Celliers said police still needed to confirm that the men were Zimbabweans.

"But that is what we suspect," he said. "We get many such cases near the border," he added.

A post mortem would be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Celliers said many Zimbabweans crossed the border but died of Aids soon after entering South Africa. Others got attacked by wild animals.

"There are leopards here, but Aids also plays a huge role," said Celliers.

On Wednesday, a man who had been hospitalised in Durban and then discharged, died on his way back to Zimbabwe.

"He died on the bridge of natural causes," said Celliers.

The Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe reported that a 19-year-old man from Bulawayo was stabbed to death on the South African side of the border last week by a smuggler who had helped him cross the border.

Earlier this year, a Zimbabwean woman was raped and stabbed to death after entering South Africa.

Many Zimbabweans fled to South Africa to escape poverty, record-high inflation and political unrest. There were no official figures on how many Zimbabweans were living in South Africa illegally, but estimates were as high as two million.

- SAPA