ME Me me wrote:

---

October 09 2006 at 10:32AM

By Botho Molosankwe
Pretoria

They lie tightly crammed on top of each other underneath a tent-like
covering in the dark, keeping very still as they pass through border gates
and traffic control centres.

There is no reason to be suspicious of the bakkies travelling into the
country, but the shoes, plastic bags and baggage carelessly tossed on top
of the covering give them away.

And, yet again last Thursday night, 28 illegal immigrants were crammed
into the back of a bakkie. They had been smuggled into the country and
were apprehended a short distance from Johannesburg.

Many of the 28 Malawians did not have passports
The group from Malawi were detained overnight at the Mantsole traffic
control centre in Hammanskraal near the N1, where they had stopped for a
routine check.

Their driver, a Malawian whose bakkie had a Gauteng registration, told
traffic officers that he was just trying to help the people as they were
poor and wanted to come here to look for jobs and their relatives.



Nathan Ntuli, a technician who works for a company that operates the
control centre's infrastructure, said the bakkie was so small that only a
few people would normally fit in the back.

According to him, many of the 28 Malawians did not have passports.

Two weeks ago, a van packed at the back with 33 illegal immigrants was
stopped en route to Johannesburg. When he was questioned, the driver said
he planned to drop some of the people in Diepsloot and others in Boksburg.

The centre's commander, Johan Dreyer, however, denied that the people were
illegal immigrants, stating that only one had been taken to a police
station for not having a passport.

Dreyer added that another problem was overloading.

He said South African drivers were bringing Malawians into the country
daily, and were making a fortune in the process. 







 

---

What is your story?we are a poor people,yes,never said no to it.But we survive and prosper.we have a good sense of homour,treasure our family values, and you,with your crippled article can not destroy us.where ever you are from,and who ever pays your rent.wamva?