70 000 Zion Church members invade Bulawayo from South Africa

Senior Home Affairs Immigration and Civic officers will today, Thursday 3 November 2011 help with the facilitation of the smooth movement of over 70 000 members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) through the Beit Bridge port of entry en route to Zimbabwe.

The over 70 000 ZCC members transported in about 500 buses are expected to begin their journey into Zimbabwe from 6h00 Thursday 3 November ahead of their planned ZCC Convention Prayer Session scheduled for Sunday 6 November 2011 in Bulawayo.

In this regard, Home Affairs officers, joined by their counterparts from the South African Police Service (SAPS), South African National Defence Force (SANDF), South African Revenue Service (SARS) and Customs will mount a joint operation to help the ZCC members through immigration and customs to enter and return from Zimbabwe.

In pursuance of this objective, a temporary immigration facility has been established in Musina with 40 terminals to help clear ZCC members through immigration and customs before being escorted by officers of the SAPS to Beit Bridge.

An additional 98 Home Affairs Immigration and Civic officers and 52 SAPS members have been deployed to beef up the current contingent of immigration officers deployed to Beit Bridge port of entry to assist in the processing of the large numbers of ZCC members crossing into Zimbabwe.

The ZCC members are expected to start returning to South Africa on Sunday 6 November.

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