By A Correspondent- THe South African government has deported 220 Zimbabweans who it was detaining for illegally staying in that country.

Zimbabwe’s Consul-General Mrs Melody Chaurura to Johannesburg to state media that their hosts had not been able to deport people in the last two weeks and that the current group had been detained at Lindela Holding Centre in Gauteng province.

She said on average less than 100 people were being sent home from South Africa weekly.

“This is the largest group so far. It’s part of the routine weekly deportations. The high number is due to the fact that no deportations were carried out two weeks prior,” said Mrs Chaurura.

Upon arrival at Beitbridge, the deportees were screened by the border and health authorities and also tested for covid19.

Those that will test positive for the condition will be put in isolation, while those testing negative will be sent to their respective homes for quarantine.

So far over 18 000 Zimbabweans, among them, deportees from Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa have passed through the Beitbridge Centre between March 2020 and June 2021.