The South African Home Affairs ministry says more than 500 Zimbabweans who are being deported from Lindela repatriation centre will be handed over to Zimbabwean officials at Beit Bridge border post in Musina, Limpopo today.

66 of the 538 being deported are from correctional facilities in Gauteng.

The number is regarded as a drop in an ocean as there are more than 2 million undocumented Zimbabweans living in South Africa.

This comes after some foreign nationals from Lesotho who did not have proper documentation got deported a few days ago.

The home affairs ministry is on a move to de-congest repatriation centres across the nation to mitigate the possible effects of the coronavirus.

Deportations of foreign nationals only seem good on paper as they seem to be on their way back to South Africa as soon as they get deported.

Home affairs ministry is being advised to adapt more advanced technologies such as the fingerprint during the deportation process. This enables them to create a proper database with information on all lawbreakers and deportees so that the banking sector and potential employers will make informed decisions.