Zimbabwe says nearly 100,000 of its citizens have left South Africa

Faced with intense anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa, the Zimbabwean government says nearly 100,000 of its citizens have returned home since the end of May.

Their departure came as anti-illegal migrant group March and March’s unofficial 30 June deadline loomed for undocumented foreigners to “self-deport”.

Harare says more than 70 per cent of the returnees are women and children with all undergoing screening and profiling at the border.

Health ministry officials, working with Doctors Without Borders and other partners, have provided medical services at the Beitbridge transit centre.

The government says it has expanded its repatriation and reintegration efforts as the number of its citizens requiring assistance continues to rise.

Officials say the reintegration programme involves multiple government ministries, civil society, and United Nations agencies.

They are providing transport, food, shelter, medical care and access to education for returning families.

Its estimated that some two million Zimbabweans live in South Africa with officials saying they expect more than half of them to leave.

Harare says it is also assisting Malawians and Zambians transiting through the country as they return home.