Yesterday I was informed that my legal migrant employee/guest could safely return home after seeking safety a little over a week ago. Last week we had the March to March protests across major cities in South Africa and is backed by the MK Political Party which is ex President Jacob Zuma. Tonight I dropped him off at the local taxi rank so he could take the short ride home. This chap is one of our employees and he is a legal documented worker who has been employed by us for a few years now.
My advice which I think is common sense is to hand in his notice to his landlord and seek safer accommodation elsewhere away from his current area. The longer he remains away the worse things could become and his disappearance would have been noticed so he needs to get out now and do not think you are too smart to avoid trouble. If anti migration violence can flare up once it can ignite at any time and this is guaranteed to happen more sooner than later. Those migrants living amongst locals will be in severe danger. If I was in his shoes I would have left the country already even being a legal migrant as you are not safe.
The reports coming out paint a bleak picture with only 37 000 illegal migrants being processed at the border posts on their way home. This number will disappoint the locals who were expecting a different outcome and why this is only getting started. I have seen reports of 60 000 Zimbabweans having left but I would be more inclined to believe the lower figure. This would represent less than 1% if the figures are as high as we expect them to be and they are 3-6 times the estimates.
The June 30th deadline which was not an official date, but more an unofficial date forced deadline supported by the masses. The warning has not been taken seriously and the masses will have a problem seeing this as being disrespectful.
Today the SA Taxi Association banned any foreign drivers from driving taxis and the owners of these taxis will enforce this or face fines or punishment which in this case is another word for violence. I expect other taxi firms like Uber and Bolt being forced to follow suit of which I would say there are many foreign drivers amongst that crowd as it is like being self employed.
There were also reports coming out of Johannesburg city center stating the migrant market stalls are back in operation having disappeared over the last week. Many would have like to believe that these people had returned to their countries instead of lying low. This I can assure you does not bode well and is very much going to become a much bigger problem.
The locals are highly pissed they have no jobs and feel cheated by the government actions of having so many undocumented migrants in the country. This is a stumbling block for the government as these are their voters and once they lose these hard core supporters they are never getting back into power.
There are rumors a new March is planned for Thursday the 9th July which is tomorrow and if this happens then one should expect rioting and violence because the police will not intervene. My employee has today to move and get organized as waiting for the weekend is not a viable option. He said it would be too late and the weekend would be too dangerous to move around. He has legal documents allowing him to stay in South Africa, but he is a foreigner who is employed which is all they see and makes no difference in their eyes.
Staying the extra few days when he should have returned to his home was the big mistake because this is going to become more serious than it was on the 30th of last month. He thought more migrants would have left and they were all thinking the same thing hiding away and then the problem goes away. Zimbabweans are sometimes too smart for their own good and the millions are still here and the locals know that. The next exodus will not be 37 000 and one can add more zeros before they calm down. This is not going to be pretty as mob mentality is very dangerous and that is where this is heading.
Expect to see the government show a harsher stance over the coming weeks because they do not have months to fix this as this is a proper powder keg fueled by desperation. Living here you can see both sides and I feel sorry for the locals because they have been betrayed by those in charge. The obvious scenario is going to be a massive deportation drive over the coming weeks and months as anything else will result in bloodshed. This may sound harsh as this is the brutal reality and the migrants should have paid heed to the warnings because no one is joking.
