BY RAY NDLOVU
Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa are being threatened and coerced into leaving the country.
The Zimbabwean embassy and two of its consulates received reports from expatriates in South Africa that they received threats including forced eviction if they don’t leave by a certain date, according to a statement on the Foreign ministry’s Twitter feed on Wednesday.
“The embassy and the consulates urge all Zimbabwe nationals in the Republic of South Africa to be vigilant and to be law abiding,” it said.
South Africa has a difficult relationship with migrants from elsewhere on the continent drawn to its relative wealth.
In 2008, about 60 people died and 50,000 were displaced in a wave of xenophobic violence that saw foreigners blamed for issues ranging from high unemployment to poor government services.
There were similar riots in 2015 and again in 2019, when President Cyril Ramaphosa was forced to apologise to other countries appalled by the treatment of their nationals.
The country of about 60-million people is home to almost three million migrants, according to government and United Nations data. – Bloomberg