At least 140,000 Zimbabweans were last year deported from South Africa and Botswana for border jumping and overstaying in those countries, police said on Friday.

South Africa deported 109,532 Zimbabweans while Botswana sent back 32,264, the police said.

The number of Zimbabweans deported from South Africa last year, police said, was double the 2005 figure.

According to police statistics, 49,788 border jumpers were deported from South Africa in 2005.

Matabeleland South police spokesman Assistant Inspector Trust Ndlovu said they would intensify border patrols to end the practice. "As police, we are going to double our efforts in border patrols and awareness campaigns aimed at putting an end to illegal migration," he said.

Ndlovu said 14,603 deportees were received at Beitbridge in May last year while 3,972 were left in Plumtree in September. Among the deportees, he said, were people without proper travelling documents and those who had overstayed. White former commercial farmers have been blamed for fuelling border jumping in South Africa where they are reportedly engaging Zimbabweans as cheap labor.

Labor ministers from Zimbabwe and South Africa are seeking ways of facilitating lawful labor migration between the two neighbors.

A reception center for deportees has since been established in Beitbridge by the International Organization for Migration while plans are afoot to put another one at Plumtree Border Post. The center is designed to cater for at least 6,000 people a month. Deportees are assisted with transport back to their homes, food and counselling.

Two thirds of border jumpers sneak into South Africa through the crocodile-infested Limpopo River, while some cross the Ramaquebana River into Botswana.

Late last year, police arrested over 4,000 people while trying to illegally cross into Botswana and South Africa in an operation code-named "Border round-up".

Source: Xinhua