Zimbabweans return from South Africa after anti-migrant violence

Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have left South Africa in recent weeks after violent anti-migrant protests.

South Africa has long attracted migrants, but the source said protests and deadly violence against foreigners have swept the country for weeks. Fringe anti-migrant groups had set an unofficial deadline for foreigners to leave South Africa. The groups blame migrants for crime and job shortages, accusations that analysts cited by AFP dismissed as scapegoating.

Shingirai Kurebwaseka, a 35-year-old Zimbabwean, was badly beaten. He had stitches across the left side of his head, his right arm was in plaster, and his left foot was supported by a splint. He said attackers beat him, smashed his foot with a hammer, burned him with lit plastic and were going to put a tyre around him before he escaped.

Kurebwaseka was hospitalised for seven days and then boarded a bus organised by South African authorities for foreign nationals. He remained at a crowded government-run shelter in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, supported by humanitarian agencies including the International Committee of the Red Cross. He told AFP that he was in pain and wanted treatment before going home.

Tichaona Magomazi, also 35, left South Africa after 11 years in Johannesburg, carrying what he had salvaged in one suitcase. AFP reported that he was beside a highway outside Beitbridge, looking for a ride to Harare and hoping to get home despite not having enough money for the fare. He said he had left at the earliest opportunity and had no words for the situation.

South African police say at least four foreign nationals have been killed in attacks linked to the anti-migrant protests. AFP reported that some African governments repatriating citizens have reported a higher toll, but the source did not give a specific figure.

The violence has triggered one of the largest waves of exits from South Africa, according to the report. More than 73,000 Zimbabweans returned from South Africa between May 28 and July 5, the International Organization for Migration Zimbabwe said, citing government figures. Of these, 54,630 returned by themselves and 19,048 were assisted through government programmes.

Many returnees arrived with little more than the clothes they were wearing. Amos Ferenando, 41, said he left hurriedly because vigilantes were carrying out house-to-house searches for foreigners. He had spent seven years working in South Africa's construction industry and was stranded at a highway kiosk while trying to contact relatives for help to reach his rural home in Zvishavane, 330 kilometres north. He said his money had run out because he had to pay fines at the border.

Fadzai Nyamande-Pangeti of the IOM said rapid assessments at the border found that 69 percent of surveyed returnees described their journeys as sudden or forced. She said vulnerabilities rise as movements increase, and that returnees need food, transport and psychosocial support.

Magomazi said his immediate priority was to find transport home.