---
title: "Zimbabweans Who Fled South Africa’s Anti-Migrant Drive Struggle at Home"
description: "More than 116,000 have returned to a country with few jobs, and many say the help they hoped for has not arrived."
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-10-04T01:55:46Z
modified: 2026-10-04T05:59:24Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/zimbabweans-who-fled-south-africa-s-anti-migrant-drive-strug-5dcfdb
language: en
tags: ["immigration", "zimbabwe", "south-africa", "xenophobia", "economy", "africa", "world"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Zimbabweans Who Fled South Africa’s Anti-Migrant Drive Struggle at Home

*More than 116,000 have returned to a country with few jobs, and many say the help they hoped for has not arrived.*

By rews desk · October 4, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/zimbabweans-who-fled-south-africa-s-anti-migrant-drive-strug-5dcfdb

## In brief

- 116,670 Zimbabweans had returned from South Africa by July 28, according to Information Minister Zhemu Soda
- A June 30 deadline set by anti-immigrant groups, not the South African government, pushed undocumented migrants to leave
- Many returnees cannot find work; churches are providing shelter, food, transport and job training
- The government says it is profiling returnees’ skills and setting up reintegration centers
- Some, like carpenter Sidney Bunya, have used skills learned in South Africa to start businesses at home

Since anti-immigrant groups in South Africa set a June 30 deadline for undocumented migrants to leave, more than 116,000 Zimbabweans have returned home, to a country where jobs are scarce and, many of them say, promised help has been slow to arrive.

By July 28, 116,670 Zimbabweans had returned from South Africa, according to the information minister, Zhemu Soda. Of those, 36,940 were assisted by the government and 79,730 made their own way back. A further 38,057 had registered for employment, Mr. Soda said.

Samantha Chimbuya, 30, left Zimbabwe in 2019 and built a life in South Africa: work, food she could afford, better schools for her two children, a doctor when the family needed one. She was living in KwaZulu-Natal when the anti-immigrant protests intensified, and she paid her own way back to Hurungwe, in northern Zimbabwe, before the deadline. “It was not safe any more. They were raiding our homes, warning us to leave. It was scary,” Ms. Chimbuya told Al Jazeera.

The deadline came not from the South African government but from activist groups. March and March, one of them, accused undocumented migrants of taking jobs and straining public services. The government said June 30 would be a normal day and warned against intimidation and violence, but thousands of migrants left anyway, and some governments organized transport home for their citizens. The pressure has continued since; [refugees in Durban were later told to leave by Sept. 30](https://rews.cc/a/a-deadline-with-no-legal-force-and-a-bishop-in-hiding-e1abda).

Going home has brought Ms. Chimbuya back to the economic hardship that pushed her to leave. She has not found work and relies on family and friends. Her husband is still in South Africa, where she says he is struggling too. She had hoped for a grant to start a small business. None came.

The Rev. Useni Sibanda, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, said many returnees had spent years abroad and arrived home with no jobs and little to fall back on; some had not invested in houses or property while they were away. “They are coming back to a country where there are no jobs and where the social support systems may not be enough to accommodate them,” Mr. Sibanda said.

The government says it is trying. Daniel Garwe, the local government minister, said officials were screening and profiling returnees to identify their skills and needs, and that reintegration centers were being set up. The education ministry is weighing whether to recruit qualified teachers among the returnees, he said, while companies are being encouraged to hire skilled ones. Vocational training and support for would-be business owners are under consideration.

Sidney Bunya took a more direct route. Mr. Bunya, from Zvimba, northeast of Harare, left Zimbabwe in March 2020, moved from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth and learned carpentry from professionals a cousin introduced him to, eventually winning large projects specializing in roof trusses. This year, groups demanding permits raided his workplace; he had only his passport, and employers grew reluctant to hire him. He shipped his tools home, left before the deadline and started a business on his savings. It now supports his family and employs five people. “It was difficult to set up the business. But I am getting more jobs now,” Mr. Bunya said.

Churches have stepped in with shelter, food and transport, and have partnered with local businesses to train returnees in welding, carpentry and computer science. But Ray Motsi, the president of the Theological College of Zimbabwe, said the needs were overwhelming and faulted the government for doing too little. “We need a deliberate programme to reintegrate these people,” he said.

Rashweat Mukundu, a human rights activist in Harare, said the state should offer longer-term help, including small grants, agricultural inputs and machinery, so returnees can build livelihoods. Getting people across the border, he said, is not the same as making them economically secure. Ms. Chimbuya has her own plan, if she can find the money. “I plan to open a grocery store, but funding is a challenge,” she said.