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Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau

Government through its Embassy in South Africa on Saturday successfully repatriated a total of 27 visually impaired Zimbabweans who were based in Johannesburg, Gauteng province who volunteered to come home.

Some of them have valid passports while a handful had no travel documents and they were accompanied by 10 aides and eight children.

It is understood that the group approached the Consulate in Johannesburg seeking assistance to return home where they intend to begin a new chapter in their lives.

The team arrived by road via Beitbridge Border Post in one bus being escorted by the Zimbabwe Consulate staff who handed them over to the Department of Social Development at the Government-run Reception and Support Centre.

Matabeleland South provincial social development officer, Mr Criswell Nyakudza said upon arrival the group was offered psychosocial support food among other social services.

“We have successfully repatriated 45 of our fellow countrymen among them 27 who are visually impaired and accompanied by 10 aides and eight children. They approached our embassy in South Africa seeking consular services and the Government undertook to fund their repatriation,” he said.

“So we are here at the Beitbridge Reception and Support centre which is a place of safety designed for them by the Government of Zimbabwe and we have offered them food, shelter and related social services.

We are now profiling them to ascertain their needs so that we cover them in the ongoing social protection safety nets, which include the public assistance, cash transfers, drought relief, funding for self-income generating projects, the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) among others. All these programs are waiting for them in their respective provinces”.

He said the Government had also arranged vehicles from the Department of Social Development to transport the group to their various destinations within the country.