“Migration has become one of the main pillars of our people’s survival, especially in the contemporary era characterised by the massive international movement of people for a number of reasons including earning a living. We have approximately 1,5 million Zimbabweans staying in South Africa legally and illegally,” Shava said on Thursday.
In the same two decades, South Africa has experienced two waves of Afrophobia — an attack on African migrants by local vigilante groups in poor communities. The attacks were so severe that thousands were displaced, dozens killed and hundreds maimed, creating a humanitarian crisis.