Things have changed for Zimbabweans in SA …

Long-time readers of my column and followers of events here in Zimbabwe will know that South Africa has long been our safe haven.

Thank you South Africa – you have been our comfort, our refuge and our safety. For the past 25 years you have been a safe place for us to run to when things were at their worst here.

You were a country we went to when violent land invaders were evicting farmers and their workers, burning and looting our farms. A place we could go to when we were escaping political persecution, brutality, violence and torture – before, during and after every rigged, contested election.

When there was literally no food to buy in our shops, we came to South Africa and bought our groceries there and you welcomed us.

When there were (and still are) no jobs with liveable wages in Zimbabwe and we could not survive, you gave us work so that we could send money home to our families in Zimbabwe to buy food and medicine, pay rent and school fees.

Everything has now changed.

It was unbearably painful to watch our best friends turning against us last week.

Not the South African government or their officials or even the police, but protestors. Black South Africans attacking black people from other African countries who they accuse of being undocumented.

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But it is not just undocumented African migrants who are running for their lives. The fear is everywhere.

Many legally documented Zimbabweans have been targeted, threatened, intimidated, attacked and had their property taken.

Hearing snatches of scared, desperate voices of Zimbabweans in long queues at ‘holding centres’ trying to get away from the place that has been their home, their safety and their sanctuary for years has been heartbreaking.

“They just came and chased us out of our homes.”

“They didn’t even ask if we had papers.”

“We were so scared, we had to run for our lives.”

“We are no longer wanted here.”

“I had to run, I have papers but they didn’t care.”

“I had to leave all my property, I am going home with nothing.”

Homecoming …

Leaving that behind is one thing, but this is what Zimbabweans are coming home to (US dollars quoted):

• A government that has just passed a bill to change the Constitution, which enables the president to stay in power for an extra two years and takes away the people’s right to elect a president of their choice.
• A country where the minimum monthly wage has just been raised to $90 for gardeners and yard workers, $99 for cooks and housekeepers, $108 for childminders and caregivers (around R1 460 to R1 753).
• Nurses will be coming home to a base salary of $250 to $320 (R4 058 to R5 914) a month; teachers and public service workers to base level salaries of $320 a month.
• Pensioners will be coming home to a base level pension of $70 (R1 136) a month – if they paid into the government’s Social Security Scheme.

The simple fact is that you can’t survive on these amounts in Zimbabwe, and jobs are very hard to find.

To put those numbers into context: Rent is $50-75 a month for one room without bathroom.

Rent in a small cottage in someone else’s garden is between $300 (R4 870) and $500 a month, while a three-bedroom house in Harare is $850 to $1 400 (R22 727) a month.

A single person’s monthly groceries are around $120-$150 for the basics. A family of four needs $400-$500 (R6 493-R8 116) a month for food. Utilities and services are: municipality $40-$100 a month; electricity $40 a month; internet and phone $40 a month.

Go anywhere by road: fuel is $2.02 (R32.79) a litre – compared to $1.58 (R25.65) in South Africa, $1.54 in Zambia, $1.53 in Botswana and $1.47 in Mozambique.

All this is what awaits Zimbabweans who are coming home.

The effect of their lost jobs and incomes on the people they were supporting back in Zimbabwe is incalculable.

Their remittances to Zimbabwe have been paying for school fees, medicines, groceries, rent and so much more.

Zimbabweans in South Africa send home roughly $58-$62 million (R941 million to R106 million) every month through formal channels alone, according to Bloomberg.

These remittances are so important to the Zimbabwe government that they are even factored into our national annual budget.

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There are a hundred opinions about the events in South Africa this week – about thousands and thousands of people desperately trying to escape South Africa, about who is to blame, about the ordinary, good, kind, decent South Africans who have only ever been our friends and tried to help us.

But most importantly the question on everybody’s lips is why didn’t South Africa enforce its own regulations about undocumented migrants and instead leave it to protestors.

Despite all the questions, the whys and what-ifs, our hearts are breaking for our Zimbabweans.

They made the supreme sacrifice of going to the diaspora to support their families back in Zimbabwe and this is how it ends, at the hands of men carrying sticks and running through the streets.

Listen/read: Government has set a ‘very dangerous precedent’

In May and June 2026, over 29 000 Zimbabweans have been deported or have voluntarily repatriated from South Africa. More will follow.

After it all, one image haunts me: a brief video clip of young men climbing out of windows on the top floor of a multi-storey hostel and sliding down drainpipes to get away from protestors who were going door to door attacking ‘migrants’ in the building.

A young boy in brown shorts and a red-and-white striped shirt climbed out of the window. He reached for the drain pipe, but could not hold on. Every time I close my eyes, I see that little boy in the red and white striped shirt falling and I am bereft.

© Cathy Buckle