South Africa–Zimbabwe border
A short border that is entirely the Limpopo River, crossed by a single bridge at Beitbridge. Every day people wade or are guided across the river to avoid the formal post, some to work and shop, and South Africa’s army patrols the bush on its bank; a fence built in 2020 was soon cut full of holes.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:South Africa →Zimbabwe →
The Limpopo
The whole border follows the middle of the Limpopo, from its confluence with the Shashe at the Botswana tripoint to its confluence with the Luvuvhu at the Mozambique tripoint. When the study was written in 1971, a single bridge at Beitbridge carried both road and railway across it.[1]
Runners and patrols
Many people cross informally. Fadzai Musindo, a “runner” carrying shopping back into Zimbabwe for clients, told Al Jazeera she crosses the Limpopo most days with other women to save the pages in her passport, guided like many others by smugglers known as goma-gomas through bush along a crocodile-infested river. Soldiers of South Africa’s army patrol the 233 km river border under Operation Corona, but cannot chase people past the middle of the river, which is no-man’s land.[2]
A 40 km fence built in 2020 at a cost of $2.1 million has since been cut, leaving gaping holes, and in dry seasons the river is easy to cross. The army says fewer people have tried since its operation began; its commander worries that those deported will come back.[2]
“In the middle of the river, it’s no man’s land that’s where it divides Zimbabwe and South Africa”[2]
Timeline
More borders
Sources
- [1]International Boundary Study No. 117: South Africa – Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) Boundary · US Department of State, Office of the Geographer · 29 October 1971
- [2]‘It’s the only way’: Migrants, army face-off along S Africa-Zimbabwe border · Al Jazeera (Tendai Marima) · 7 January 2025
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.