NEWS | Zimbabwe refuses to let South Africa migrant crisis fallout fracture ties
HARARE — Zimbabwe has sought to draw a diplomatic line between the return of thousands of its citizens from South Africa and its broader relationship with Pretoria, saying the repatriation process has not produced a rupture between the two neighbours.
Foreign Affairs Minister Professor Amon Murwira said Zimbabwe continues to work closely with the South African government despite the tensions surrounding the departure of Zimbabweans and other foreign nationals amid anti-immigrant protests and pressure.
“Even when we are doing the repatriation program, you must know that we work very well with the South African government,” Murwira told SABC on the sidelines of the 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community.
His remarks came after tens of thousands of Zimbabweans returned from South Africa amid threats, demonstrations, and pressure directed at foreign nationals. More than 78,000 Zimbabweans have returned through government-assisted repatriation programs and border crossings, according to the background provided.
But Murwira said Harare would not allow the dispute surrounding migration to become a diplomatic confrontation.
“It is unlike what people were expecting,” he said, referring to expectations of an escalation between the two governments.
“There’s nothing which is going to come like that from Zimbabwe and between Zimbabwe and South Africa.”
The minister’s comments point to a deliberate separation between the treatment of Zimbabwean migrants and the state-to-state relationship between Harare and Pretoria.
Murwira acknowledged that political complaints and public criticism were inevitable but rejected the idea that Zimbabwe would allow those tensions to define its bilateral engagement with South Africa.
“People can always complain. People can always try to scapegoat Zimbabwe, but scapegoating, we can not do it at this level,” he said.
The remarks come as migration has become an increasingly sensitive issue in relations between the two countries, with Zimbabweans among the foreign nationals affected by South Africa’s recent wave of anti-immigrant mobilisation
For Harare, however, the official position remains one of continued diplomatic engagement rather than confrontation.
Murwira said the two governments were also preparing for the next session of their bilateral mechanism, the Bi-National Commission, signaling that cooperation between the neighboring states would continue despite the political and social pressures surrounding migration.
The message from Harare is therefore unequivocal: the return of Zimbabweans from South Africa is being managed as a bilateral and administrative matter rather than allowed to become a wider diplomatic dispute.
“We work very well with the South African government,” Murwira said.
Reporting by Anesu Masamvu