5 challenges facing Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa NOW

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Most Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa continue to face a range of challenges, from immigration uncertainty to poor access to basic services, amid ongoing arrests of undocumented foreign nationals.

Therefore, many immigrants remain vulnerable to exploitation and police raids. Here is a look at five challenges that Zimbabweans in South Africa face:

A life in limbo for Zimbabwean immigrants?

The ZEP has expired, extensions keep coming, but there’s no clear path forward. Thousands fear getting arrested or deported during random raids. This has become a challenge to Zimbabwean immigrants who are trying to live and work in peace.

Trapped in the shadows of the economy

Not all Zimbabwean immigrants to South Africa are ZEP holders. Some Zimbabweans who live in South Africa do have valid passports without work permits, and others do not have passports at all.

With no papers to protect them, many Zimbabwean immigrants take whatever work they can find, often in homes, construction sites, or kitchens. Some reports suggest that most Zimbabweans are underpaid, overworked, and silenced by the constant threat of deportation if they speak up.

The human cost of closed doors

For Zimbabwean migrants, a visit to a clinic can end in humiliation. ‘No papers, no service,’ that’s the message too many receive.

The South African recently reported a case of a Zimbabwean teenager who was denied a kidney transplant in Johannesburg because her parents’ work permit had expired.

Falling ill or trying to enrol a child in school shouldn’t be a gamble, but for Zimbabwean immigrants, it is. Many are turned away from hospitals, and school admissions often require documents they can’t provide.

Social media has become a powerful amplifier of anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa. Despite having many foreign nationals based in South Africa, Zimbabwean immigrants, in particular, are regularly blamed for economic and social problems.

Groups such as Operation Dudula have used platforms like Facebook and Twitter to mobilise anger, often inciting real-world hostility. Blamed for everything from crime to job shortages, Zimbabwean immigrants are constantly dragged on South African social media.

Zimbabweans have become easy scapegoats in online spaces, with hashtags and posts reinforcing a narrative of exclusion.

Vendors under siege

Many Zimbabweans living in South Africa rely on informal trading. Selling fruit or clothes is the only way to make ends meet, but crackdowns keep hitting them hardest. It’s survival, but not without stress.

If you are selling on the street, you must be ready for raids, fines, or your stuff getting taken.