We were your backbone: Almost 60 000 Zimbabweans go – some say SA will suffer without them

• Zimbabwe has confirmed that nearly 60 000 citizens have returned home in the past two weeks.
• This, after anti-immigration groups’ ultimatum that demanded undocumented migrants leave by 30 June.
• Returnee Mildred Sango warned that South Africa’s economy would decline without Zimbabweans because they filled essential roles and carried out menial jobs that locals were unwilling to do.

“The cumulative total of returnees facilitated by the government of Zimbabwe stood at 11 065 by 2 July. The cumulative total of self-repatriation stood at 47 703,” said George Charamba, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson.

“The grand total of Zimbabweans who have come back home thus stood at 58 768 as of 2 July.”

Charamba added: “Zimbabwe embassy and its consulates are coordinating movements of Zimbabweans across South Africa to the Musina temporary repatriation centre, including from Cape Town and Durban.

“They are also moving food, toiletries and buses to the needy, as well as organising temporary shelter for Zimbabweans awaiting clearance by the host country.”

Additional support, in the form of food, blankets, child-friendly play centres and other amenities, came from the World Food Programme, Unicef and No One Sleeps Hungry.

“The City of Cape Town has supported the Zimbabwe consulate with 16 buses, which moved returnees to Musina on 1 July.”

In Harare, dozens of returnees also arrived at Roadport bus terminus on Saturday.

Some told News24 they were the backbone of the economy.

“By kicking us out of that country like animals, South Africans are doing themselves a disservice because Zimbabweans, in our millions in South Africa, were generating that economy for them,” Mildred Sango told News24 on her arrival at Roadport in Harare.

“Right now, they are going to see that once we leave the country, they don’t have the capacity to generate that economy on their own.”

Sango added: “We are also more educated than South Africans. So they are going to watch their economy drop. One day, we are going to wait for them to come and work for us here in Zimbabwe. Watch this space.”

Another returnee, Tichaona Taruvinga, said: “I was working in South Africa, but I didn’t have a work permit, which is why I have been repatriated to Zimbabwe. I have to look for something to do, either start my own business or find a job here.

“But also, things are tough this side, and for now, I don’t have anything to do,” Taruvinga said.

Political analyst Precious Shumba said Zimbabweans should stop blaming South Africans for kicking them out of their country, as the Zimbabwean government was to blame for all the chaos.

“The blame lies on the Zimbabwe government. Remember, in the year 2000 we chased away productive white farmers, which also affected thousands of farmworkers. We also destroyed our manufacturing industry, and so many companies and people left for neighbouring countries, particularly South Africa. Now they are facing serious challenges, and it will be difficult to settle in the political economy of Zimbabwe because they have been used to systems that work.”