The cruel harassment of this Zimbabwean pregnant woman seeking medical attention in Pretoria, South Africa, by an aggressive group of local women demanding she should leave the country and go back home to ask President Emmerson Mnangagwa to help her has brought to the fore the plight of many other immigrants in the neighbouring country and the push factors at play.
Fundamentally, it highlights Zimbabwe’s internal problems – leadership, governance and policy failures, as well as endemic corruption and incompetence.
Push factors are conditions that drive people to leave their home country and seek new opportunities elsewhere.
These can be economic, political, social, or environmental, and they often create dissatisfaction or hardship that makes living in the current location untenable.
Pull factors are also critical.
Harassment of Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa is a divisive, complex issue with a complicated background and multiple factors at play.
While it is difficult to pinpoint a single cause, factors or those responsible for the problem, there are underlying issues manifested through volatile xenophobia.
South Africa has struggled with high unemployment rates, crime, poverty, and inequality, which has contributed to tensions between locals and foreign nationals.
Zimbabweans, in particular, have faced many challenges in South Africa due to resentment by locals as they flood the country.
There are millions – some say as many as three million – of Zimbabweans in South Africa.
The South African government has been widely criticised for its handling of xenophobic attacks and harassment of foreigners, with some arguing more needs to be done to protect foreign nationals and promote social cohesion.
However, the Zimbabwean government’s policies and actions, around governance, economic management and human rights abuses, have contributed to the collapse of the economy and the mass exodus of citizens to South Africa and other countries.
But it is essential to recognise the root causes of migration are complex and multifaceted, not just to South Africa but around the world.
To address the problem, a holistic solution would be required encompassing endogenous and exogenous factors.
Yet in all this one thing is clear: This women on the video is subjected to such degrading and inhuman treatment because Zanu PF has badly mismanaged the economy and destroyed country, including health facilities, forcing citizens to flee across borders as economic refugees, asylum-seekers and scoungers.
Newshawks
