There are no winners here, and we can only hope stability arrives quickly.
Hundreds of Zimbabwean migrants gather with their belongings outside the Zimbabwean Consulate in Cape Town, on June 27, 2026, as they try to get repatriated to Zimbabwe. South Africans President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed on Thursday to crush any attempts to destabilise the nation during planned anti-immigrant marches next week, amid a wave of xenophobia. Citizen-led groups have set Tuesday 30 as a deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave and called for nationwide marches against illegal immigration, marking a crescendo in months of protests that have at times turned violent. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP)
You have to admire the chutzpah of the ruling Zanu-PF party in Zimbabwe – for trying to bask in the glory of welcoming back tens of thousands of their citizens from this country, where many have been hounded for being illegal migrants.
We would like to ask President Emmerson Mnangagwa to take the time to reflect on why those people felt so desperate that they left everything behind to go to South Africa. The answer is as obvious as the potholes and poverty on one side of Zimbabwe and the mansions and the Mercedes-Benzes on the other.
Zanu-PF’s weapons-grade looting over the years has gutted the country, and even the serendipitous discoveries of reserves of important minerals in recent years haven’t provided the bonanza the ruling party likes to brag about.
Harare’s deputy chief secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, George Charamba, waxed lyrical on the value the returnees could add. “They are coming back to a changed country. The economy is growing and creating new opportunities. There is recognition that these returnees are bringing in unique skills, including in the horticulture industry.”
In other words, many well-educated Zimbabweans were forced to become gardeners and farmworkers to scrape together money to send to their starving families back home. That’s not the achievement you think it is, comrade Charamba.
While it is true that some Zimbabweans returning home will have experience and skills in areas like hospitality – where many of them earned their living in South Africa – and that the Zimbabwean tourism and hospitality industry appears to be turning a corner, the reality is that the country is going to miss the hard currency the tens of thousands of people have been sending back every month.
There are no winners here, and we can only hope stability arrives quickly.
