Government brings 21,300 Zimbabweans home from South Africa

Zimbabwe's government said Tuesday it had helped nearly 21,300 of its citizens to return from South Africa in just over five weeks as pressure mounted on undocumented migrants to leave.

More than 56,800 others had made their own way back across the porous border in that time, Information Minister Soda Zhemu said at a post-cabinet briefing.

Foreign nationals from a host of African countries, including Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe, have for weeks been leaving South Africa through government-assisted programmes.

The exodus began weeks ago as fringe South African groups stepped up demands for undocumented migrants to leave by June 30 in a campaign that saw violent protests and clashes in which at least four foreign nationals were killed.

"To date, approximately 21,291 Zimbabwean nationals have been repatriated through government-assisted arrangements since the commencement of the exercise on May 26," Zhemu said. 

More than 56,830 returned "independently through self-repatriation mechanisms during the same period", Zhemu said, without giving details of how they came home.

Zimbabwe and South Africa share a busy border that sees large numbers of crossings both ways daily, many of them reportedly clandestine and unregistered.

More than 45,000 migrants had exited South Africa via the Beitbridge post on the Zimbabwe border since June 7, border authority commissioner Mike Masiapato told the SABC news channel Tuesday. 

Another 1,500 had crossed the land border into Mozambique, he said.

Hundreds more foreign nationals are reportedly still awaiting help to leave as anti-illegal migration groups maintain the pressure against them.

Malawi said at the weekend it brought back more than 22,000 of its nationals home between June 7 and July 2.

Ghana says it has returned more than 900 nationals while Nigeria says nearly 860 of its citizens left with government help. Uganda says it has repatriated around 560 nationals.

For decades, citizens of other African nations have moved to South Africa -- one of the continent's richest and most industrialised countries -- in search of jobs and better economic opportunities.

Some groups in South Africa -- where the unemployment rate is nearly 33 percent -- accuse undocumented migrants of taking jobs, straining public services and contributing to crime.

str-br/phz

© Agence France-Presse