Zimbabweans contribute to economic development of SA

South Africa announced last week that it was going to recommence deporting illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe. The announcement was a real bombshell to millions of Zimbabweans who are working in the Southern African economic giant and their dependents in Zimbabwe. They are coming after they had been held in abeyance for five years.

It is not the deportations per se that are a cause for distress. The deportations will have some political and socio-economic ramifications. It is in view of these imminent implications that Zimbabwean Government found it prudent to engage its South African counterpart and this effort is praiseworthy.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Cde Kembo Mohadi recently engaged his South African counterpart, Mr Malusi Gigaba with a view to convincing him to give Zimbabweans immigrants new work permits. He also complained about the atrocious manner the deportations are carried out.

Deportees from Zimbabwe have been treated as first class criminals in South Africa, and to a large extent in Botswana. They are usually rounded up in streets and bundled in vans popularly known as Magumbagumba before they are taken to Lindela (wait here in Zulu) Repatriation Centre. After working in that country for a long time, most Zimbabweans have accumulated considerable properties. Some have families in that country. Despite this, the deportees are not even allowed to go and collect their belongings, let alone inform their spouses at home. Cde Mohadi raised this issue which everybody hopes South Africa will take into consideration.

Government should pursue this issue until there is an assurance that its citizens will not be subjected to inhumane treatment during deportation. Zimbabwean authorities should pluck a leaf from the USA's book. America is very sensitive to the welfare of its citizens living in other countries. Even if the citizen is a criminal, the USA makes sure that he or she is treated humanely and nobody tramples upon their rights. Recently, two American citizens, a doctor and a TV cameraman contracted the dreaded Ebola in Liberia. The USA flew a whole plane just to airlift those citizens out of danger. Such swiftness saved the lives of the doctors.

It's known that some of the Zimbabweans in South Africa and other countries soiled the image of the country in their bid to get asylum. Some are criminals running away from the wrath of the law. Nevertheless, Government should make sure that these citizens are not subjected to callous treatment in foreign lands.

From the discussion that Cde Mohadi had with Mr Gigaba, it appears that South Africa is reluctant to give new permits to Zimbabweans. It's sad that South Africa forgets that it is a signatory to SADC protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons whose overall objective is to develop policies at the progressive elimination of obstacles to the movement of persons of the region generally into and within the territories of state members.

The protocol gives one the freedom to seek work as well as permanent and temporary residence in the territory of another member state South Africa must be reminded that Zimbabwean immigrants have been contributing immensely to the economic development of that country through provision of cheap labour. Zimbabweans have been offering their cheap labour to South Africa since the advent of industrialisation in that country. They toiled in their mines, industries and on farms as well as in other menial jobs that the natives shunned.

 In almost every household in Zimbabwe, there is a family member who worked in South Africa popularly known as kuJoni or KuWenera then. A 2002 Survey by the Southern African Migration Project indicates that almost 25% of adult Zimbabweans' parents had worked in South Africa at some point in their lives.

The native South Africans of that time were very lazy and they only wanted to make quick money through nefarious means.

Even today, Zimbabweans have continued to contribute in the economic development of South Africa. As a result of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West, employment opportunities for our learned and skilled workforce dwindled. There was a massive skill flight during the peak of the biting sanctions in 2008. Our tertiary institutions are channeling out skilled graduates every year and these products' primary destinations are South Africa and Europe. South Africa must consider this reality when crafting its policy on immigrants.

It cannot continue to use immigrants and dispose of them when it suits it. In 2009, South Africa registered over 240 000 Zimbabweans whom they gave four-year permits under the Dispensation of Zimbabwe Project. These permits were issued out so as to get cheap labour in the construction of facilities ahead of the World Cup hosted by that country in 2010. Now that the World Cup is over, Zimbabweans have become disposable labourers. Some heartless employers in South Africa are reportedly taking advantage of the irregular Zimbabweans whom they exploit for free. They hire these immigrants, only to report them to the police towards pay days. After their arrest and subsequent deportation, they hire new unsuspecting arrivals and betray them the same way. The cycle continues this way.

Once upon a time, Zimbabwe was once an economic hub in the region where economic refugees from neighbouring countries sought sanctuary. The immigrants felt at home as they were never treated like criminals. Some immigrants went on to permanently settle in this country because the laws were not harsh. Today, there are some suburbs such as Sizinda in Bulawayo, Devonshire in Mutare, Rugare and Mufakose in Harare which are predominantly habited by residents of Malawian extraction.

Today, Nigerians and Congolese own most of the retail shops in towns and cities. There is no single day that they were threatened with deportation despite that some of them are involved in criminal activities. Some Congolese even went to an extent of trying to practice Satanism in this country. Such is the hospitality of Zimbabwe which South Africa must emulate.

South Africans are living peacefully with the Boers who nearly decimated the populace during the bloody apartheid era. They cannot fail to live harmoniously with a fellow African brother from a neighbouring country. The deportees will add on to the list of the unemployed people in Zimbabwe and increase the number of the disgruntled people. Some of the deportees are not clever enough to locate the source of their misery. Instead they will blame Government and eventually vent their spleen in the ballot. It is a constituent that some political vultures will seek to capitalize on.

Forewarned is forearmed.