Paul Nyathi|Traffic has surged in recent days, with officials at the Beitbridge border post saying more than 20,000 people are passing through the Zimbabwe side per day.

Many Zimbabweans living in South Africa make the annual journey home at Christmas time.

But due to the difficulty in obtaining a passport, some try to sneak through without permission.

Cash, power and fuel shortages in Zimbabwe don’t appear to have deterred many people from travelling home this Christmas.

The immigration department figures, suggest that at least 21,000 people are crossing through the border post each day. This figure is up from around 16,000 earlier this month.

Zimbabwe immigration staff says they’ve cancelled leave and beefed up their numbers.

Officials on both sides are usually overwhelmed at this time of the year and in January.

According to reports, officials say they’re clamping down undocumented travellers, especially children, who are smuggled across the border to be reunited with their families.