Zimbabwe has enlisted the support of one of its wealthiest businessmen, Kudakwashe Tagwirei, to help finance an emergency operation to bring thousands of its citizens home from South Africa, as mounting anti-immigrant tensions expose the limits of the country’s repatriation capacity.
Tagwirei and his wife, Sandra, have pledged $1 million through the Bridging Gaps Foundation to fund the emergency return of up to 20,000 Zimbabweans, with the money expected to finance buses transporting returnees from South African cities to the Beitbridge border crossing and onward to communities across Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Local Government and Public Works formally accepted the donation in a letter dated June 26, requesting the foundation to procure the buses and coordinate logistics for the operation, including transport within South Africa and services at the Beitbridge Border Post.
If fully implemented, the programme would significantly expand Zimbabwe’s capacity to respond to one of the largest waves of voluntary returns from South Africa in recent years.
The intervention comes as hundreds of Zimbabweans have gathered outside their country’s consulate in Cape Town, many sleeping outdoors for days while waiting to be processed for government-assisted transport home after fears of violence intensified ahead of an unofficial June 30 anti-immigrant mobilisation.
