Online Reporter
Debra Matabvu
PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA has directed that Zimbabweans returning from South Africa be welcomed home with dignity and supported through reintegration programmes designed to enable them to contribute to the growing economy.
This comes as the Government is preparing to receive an increased number of returnees following the intensified crackdown on undocumented migrants.
However, the authorities believe returning Zimbabweans will play a key role in accelerating the country’s economic transformation, with their skills expected to bolster strategic sectors such as horticulture, mining and manufacturing.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba said the returnees presented an opportunity to harness skills acquired outside the country to support national development.
As of Thursday, the Government had facilitated the repatriation of 11 065 Zimbabweans, with a further 47 703 citizens returning home through self-repatriation efforts, bringing the cumulative total of returnees to 58 768.
Of the 11 065 who have been repatriated, 2 449 are male adults, while 3 661 are female adults. There are also 2 407 male minors, 2 540 female minors and eight unaccompanied minors.
“We were given a very strong statement by His Excellency, the President, on Monday to communicate that every Zimbabwean is welcome to come home,” Mr Charamba said.
“This is their country, this is their home and we proudly receive our citizens back.
“Government is doing all it can to ensure their comfortable and dignified return but also to their long-term reintegration into wider society. They are coming back to a changed country. The economy is growing and creating new opportunities, which means Zimbabwe’s capacity to absorb its returnees is very much enlarged.”
He said the diverse skills and expertise possessed by returning Zimbabwean nationals should be harnessed across various sectors of the economy to drive productivity, stimulate economic growth and foster national development.
“There is recognition that these returnees are bringing in unique skills, including in the horticulture industry,” Mr Charamba added.
“With the new China policy of zero tariffs, it means our horticulture industry has to perform. The skills that Zimbabwean returnees wield are badly required back home so that Zimbabwe can meet her export quota.
“Our push for beneficiation, it means that we will have an immediate direct link between mining and industrialisation. It will also mean less of Zimbabwean minerals going down south as matte.
“Each time we are sending down matte instead of platinum, instead of rhodium, instead of gold, instead of lithium sulphate or lithium carbonate, it means we are exporting jobs which Zimbabweans move down south to claim back. So, the issue of beneficiation is going to be a turning point in terms of the economy’s capacity to absorb those that are coming back home.”
Influx
He attributed the influx of Zimbabweans from South Africa to the crackdown on farms, penalties by the South African government on employers of undocumented migrant workers and landlords, who are now finding it impossible to house Zimbabwean tenants.
“What we need to appreciate as Zimbabweans is that the numbers of returnees are very unstable and they keep swelling,” he added.
“We have tried to get to the bottom of that phenomenon, and we have since established that the crackdown on migrants is unrelenting and ever-expanding.
“Firstly, the crackdown of migrants has extended to farming areas, so that has been a new source of returnees.
“Secondly, the crackdown has also been extended to penalties slapped on employers of migrant workers — very hefty penalties.
“The erstwhile employers have become agents of eviction. They are now throwing their erstwhile employees in the street for fear of being slapped with hefty penalties by the government.
“The third dimension of landlords, and it is exactly the same reason that has influenced employers.
“The landlords have been kicking out their tenants. The last one is the generalised sense of insecurity which is forcing out Zimbabweans and other nationalities from their hideouts and delivering themselves to repatriation centres.”
Mr Charamba said areas where this has been rampant include Western Cape province, Durban and Pietermaritzburg. This has resulted in Zimbabwean nationals turning to repatriation centres in these areas, he added.
He said that although repatriation centres had been established in areas such as the Western Cape and Durban, South African clearance teams remained understaffed in other parts of the country, slowing down the repatriation.
“The other complicating factor is that the journey of returnees has multiple detours,” he added.
“We have had instances where we had to move returnees from repatriation centres into Johannesburg, where there are more clearance centres.
“The clearing teams of the South African government have been lean in some areas and stronger in others.
“Through our consulate, we have had to move Zimbabwean nationals from areas of lean service to areas of stronger service.
“Johannesburg being the leading centre, we moved returnees from Durban and Cape Town to Johannesburg for clearance.
“Then Zimbabwean Government then mobilised transport for the returnees to Musina. So, this has tended to complicate matters.
“The South African government has been very insistent that everyone moving from their territory must be accounted for from the perspective of crime because they do not want criminals to escape the dragnet.
“So, they have been very insistent that everyone must be cleared.”
The Zimbabwean Embassy and its consulates continue to provide humanitarian assistance to distressed citizens by distributing food, toiletries, temporary shelter and coordinating transport to the border.
Government-hired buses, supplemented by donations from philanthropists such Messrs Kudakwashe Tagwirei and Paul Tungwarara, as well as development partners, are supporting the repatriation programme. Additional buses and ambulances are boosting operations.
Development partners, including the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF, No-One Sleeps Hungry, Life Foundation and the Adventist Relief and Development Agency, have also provided food, blankets, transport and other essential services to ensure the safe, orderly and dignified return and reintegration of Zimbabwean returnees.
