Namibia deports 32 Zimbabweans

Namibia has deported 32 Zimbabwean nationals who were arrested for offences which include illegal entry in the country.

Gaborone - Namibia has deported 32 Zimbabwean nationals who were arrested for offences which include illegal entry and working illegally in the country.

The 32 were transported from Katima Mulilo to the Zimbabwean resort town of Victoria Falls by the Namibian Ministry of Home Affairs. They were immediately arrested on arrival by Zimbabwean authorities and slapped with a common charge of exiting the country illegally through ungazetted points.

All of them pleaded guilty to the crimes which were committed between 2008 and February 2016. Most of the accused persons told the court they worked as housemaids, garden hands, construction labourers and commercial sex workers, while others confessed to being employed informally in agriculture sector jobs.

According to local radio station Radio VOP, the majority of the deportees were from the capital Harare.

They asked the court to be lenient with them considering that they were coming from the Namibian prison in Katima Mulilo and had endured assaults and other abuses during their incarceration.

Each of the deportees was slapped with a three-month prison term, which was wholly suspended on account of the fact that they were first offenders who had already served time in Namibia.

African News Agency