Candid Comment : Migration crisis: Time to restore our dignity
Brian Chitemba
IGRATION has been a common phenomenon in Zimbabwe. It started during colonial days when locals flocked to South Africa to work in gold mines.
At the turn of the millennium, millions left the country for the United Kingdom, the Americas, Australia, South Africa and other Sadc countries. This was during former president Robert Mugabe’s rule which saw Zimbabwe’s economy crumbling from high inflation, unemployment, de-industrialisation and endemic corruption. Precisely, poverty levels have been on an increasing trend with over seven million people living in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.
Many households are living on less than a US dollar a day. Their consumption per capita is way below the poverty datum line. This could be one of the explanations for the continued migration.
Recent statistics show that close to 90 000 were arrested for violating the Immigration Act. They illegally crossed the Zimbabwe-South Africa border through undesignated points along the Limpopo River.
Land borders are closed due to Covid-19 restrictions and many Zimbabweans came home for the December holidays using illegal means. They are seeking to return through the same. But South African and Zimbabwean authorities have tightened border controls.
On the South Africa side, border control authorities, police and the army have set up three roadblocks between Musina and Pretoria. A video of hundreds of Zimbabweans who were rounded up in Musina went viral this week. What became apparent from the visuals of the illegal migrants is that their dignity has been stolen. They are also exposed to the dangers of contracting the deadly coronavirus.
Even those who had permits to live in South Africa now face a bleak future after Pretoria discontinued the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits regime on December 31, 2021. Now a 12-month grace period is underway after which those without documentation face deportation. They are estimated to be around 250 000 facing this fate.
The migration issue has sparked a cold war between Harare and Pretoria as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government is taking a tough stance against Zimbabwean immigrants. There is no back-tracking; South Africa seems to be fed-up with their neighbours who are often accused of criminal activities. This desperate situation faced by Zimbabweans in foreign lands is as a result of poverty due to misrule by the Zanu PF government. The current administration must step up in resuscitating industry and creating more jobs to curtail migration.
The government is carrying a burden which needs urgent redress to restore the dignity of Zimbabweans – both home and abroad, especially those doing menial jobs and some who are forced to illegally cross borders to look for opportunities to feed their families.
It’s time Zimbabwe restored the dignity of its citizens by solving the long-running economic malaise.
