Many migrants, including those who have fled poverty and desperation elsewhere in Africa, make the dangerous journey across the border from Zimbabwe to reach South Africa. As elections approach, xenophobic sentiment is on the rise, and South Africa's government is under pressure to tighten the border. The last census found that there were more than 2.4 million foreigners, nearly half of them Zimbabwean, living in the country, accounting for just over 3% of the population. However, there are no official estimates for the number of those who have entered illegally.
With a general election scheduled for the end of May, illegal immigration has become a highly charged political issue. South African authorities say they are tightening border security, but the enormity of the task remains. The road from Musina towards the Limpopo River, which separates South Africa and Zimbabwe, is filled with coils of metal glint in the undergrowth. The river itself is all but dried up, and there is nothing - no fence, no guards - to stop them.
Musina is well known as a place of refuge for migrants who, like Ms Murevesi, slip unnoticed over the border. The migrants who make it have survived a difficult trek through the bush, which is lawless and unforgiving territory. Wild animals and gangs of criminals are a constant threat. Stories of theft, beatings, rapes, and even killings are common.
The South African Border Management Authority (BMA) was launched in October, but the country's governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), may not have years. After three decades in power, the ANC presides over a country in which power and water supplies are failing and whose citizens are plagued by record levels of unemployment and violent crime.
As South Africa lurches towards what polls predict will be a bruising election for the ANC, it is perhaps unsurprising that some political opponents, like the anti-migrant party Operation Dudula, openly blame migrants for the country's woes. And xenophobic rhetoric is rife, with migrants also blamed for taking jobs from locals. Even President Ramaphosa has said that undocumented foreign nationals exacerbate South Africa's social and economic problems.
Other opposition parties, including ActionSA, are demanding stronger border controls, including Malebo Kobe, a regional spokeswoman for ActionSA. Kobe warns that local hospitals and other services have been overwhelmed by undocumented migrants who come here seeking healthcare or other benefits.
As South Africa prepares to redraw its political map, need and desperation continue to define the country's limits.
SOURCE: BBC
