Migration from Zimbabwe: Numbers, needs, and policy options
Key Points:
- Migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa is driven by the political instability and economic decline in Zimbabwe.
- Although no authoritative figures are available, estimates of the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa range as high as 3 million.
- In the period of January-June 2007, 102 413 illegal immigrants were repatriated to Zimbabwe.
- The increasing migration flows from Zimbabwe are exacerbating and dramatizing already existing inadequacies of regional migration management.
- Given that the South African government views most Zimbabweans as economic migrants, it is clear that an economic policy solution is needed.
Op-ed: Government not facing up to the realities of an exodus
