HARARE – Zaka South legislator Clemence Chiduwa’s suggestion that Zimbabwe should reciprocate South Africa’s treatment of Zimbabwean migrants by expelling South Africans living locally was ruled out of order in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Chiduwa raised the issue during Question Time, citing ongoing anti-immigrant marches in South Africa which have at times turned violent.
“In Zimbabwe at the moment, we have got at least 25,000 South Africans. In the spirit of diplomatic reciprocity, is there not a need for us to chase South Africans back to South Africa?” he asked justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, the Leader of Government Business.
Temporary Speaker Joseph Tshuma cut off the line of questioning before Ziyambi could respond.
“I will not allow that line of questioning in this House, Hon. Chiduwa,” Tshuma said, overruling audible objections from the floor. “I will allow the minister to respond but we do not as a people have that kind of attitude as Zimbabweans, so we will not allow that.”
Ziyambi went on to address the matter, distancing the government from any suggestion of retaliatory expulsions.
“As Zimbabweans, we are friends with everyone. Our culture dictates that if our children visit and they want to come back, we duly take them back,” he said. “We do not have a policy of chasing away visitors. We have never had that.”
The minister invoked a 2021/2022 directive by President Emmerson Mnangagwa instructing the ministry of home affairs to regularise undocumented residents, including granting identity documents to those without them.
“He even went further and I recall that in cabinet, he said, if they don’t have names, give them yours, let all of them be Kazembe,” Ziyambi said, referring to home affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe.
He said Zimbabwe would continue to welcome South Africans whose documentation was in order.
“We maintain our ubuntu. We do not want to be dragged into fights on borders that were created by people who are not us and deny our relatives, whether they are in Zambia, Malawi or Botswana,” he said.
The exchange came amid broader parliamentary questions on the reintegration of Zimbabweans returning from South Africa. The government says over 100,000 Zimbabweans have returned home since anti-immigrant tensions flared up in May.
Several MPs raised concerns about assaults on Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa, destruction of their property, and the need for a bilateral dialogue between the two governments on orderly repatriation.
