A senior official of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has blamed the United States and the United Kingdom for the mass exodus of Zimbabweans from their country to South Africa.
Speaking at the party’s Western Cape elective conference on Saturday, 24 June, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said it looks as if all Zimbabweans have migrated to South Africa.
Mbalula said Zimbabweans are everywhere, from Gugulethu to Khayelitsha.
Gugulethu is a township in the Western Cape Province and is 15 km from Cape Town, while Khayelitsha is located on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town.
Mbalula claimed that Zimbabwe’s economic challenges that have resulted in mass emigration were caused by the U.S. and Britain. He said:
Zimbabwe as a country has moved to South Africa. From Gugulethu to Khayelitsha, there is Zimbabwe there.
The whole country of Zimbabwe has moved to South Africa. And then we say to the Americans… the British, give Zimbabwe what they deserve.
Because you agreed in Lancaster that you will give them £40 billion for the land reform and redistribution programme.
There have been clashes between South Africans and immigrants from other African countries.
Zimbabwean national Mbodazwe Elvis Nyathi was killed in a Xenophobic attack in Diepsloot Ext 1, northern Johannesburg on the night of 6 April 2022.
He was killed by a mob who were going around the neighbourhood demanding to see identity documents.
On Wednesday, 07 June, South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi extended the validity of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) dispensation.
He said the holder of a ZEP permit will be allowed to enter and exit South Africa, provided they comply with all entry or exit requirements.
ZEP holders would not be required to present an exemption permit or authorisation letter to remain in the country during the extension period.
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