ZIMBABWE: Every night, the emigrants from the Zimbabwe side of the border creep to the rushing river and consider the dangers ahead.
There are crocodiles ready to topple stealthy boats. There are twists of barbed wire and miles of electrified fence. But across the river lies South Africa, a land of stability and hope.
Facing the toughest election battle of his career, President Robert Mugabe is urging citizens to remember him as the liberator who ended white rule and presided over 22 years of democracy. But thousands of voters are quietly fleeing a nation beset by hunger and violence.
Over the last six weeks, more than 7,000 emigrants from Zimbabwe have been caught slipping into the border town of Messina.
South African officials say that figure is three times the number of people apprehended during similar periods last year.
Officials expect the influx to surge before the Zimbabwean election, set for March 9th and 10th.
Fearful that civil unrest or a military coup might follow the voting, the South African government is preparing a military base in Messina to house as many as 70,000 refugees, military officials say. Once one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, Zimbabwe is now racked with food shortages, unemployment and an authoritarian government more and more willing to crack down on its critics.
Those who wiggle through the barbed wire here or creep under the bridge that links Zimbabwe to South Africa describe shortages of cornmeal and cooking oil and tell of beatings and intimidation.
"The Zimbabwe situation at this stage is deteriorating," said Col Tol Snyman, a South African officer, whose soldiers patrol the border. "We're getting a large influx, and we're expecting more to come through."
Col Snyman says Zimbabwe's deepening troubles have changed the profile of the emigrants. Two years ago, he said, most were traders in their 30s and 40s who crossed the border to buy cheap goods and crept back to sell them. They came with money in their pockets, he said, and hailed from towns near the border.
Today, the emigrants are younger, often teenagers who have given up on a country that once prided itself on expanding education and opportunities. In many cases, older relatives who cannot support them send the young people out of the country to look for work.
They come from as far north as Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, which is more than 300 miles away, and many arrive hungry. Of late, several have asked for refugee status, saying they feared political retaliation if they were sent home.
"Before, they came through with money and their clothes were neat," Col Snyman said.
"Now they haven't had food for two or three days. It's heartbreaking to see some of these souls from the other side." - (New York Times Service)