More than 700 000 Zimbabweans live in SA

More than 700 000 Zimbabweans living in South Africa according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat).

The statistics have been made public by Zimstat in the preliminary findings of the April national census.

According to Zimstat’s results, 773 246 Zimbabweans are living in South Africa, 461 293 of them are men, and 311 593 of whom are women.

According to the research, South Africa accounted for 85% of emigrants’ primary residence countries, followed by Botswana (5%), and the United Kingdom (3%).

The number of Zimbabweans who are legally residing in South Africa is far below these recent numbers.

Only 178 000 Zimbabweans living and working in the nation had permits, according to the SA Department of Home Affairs.
However, the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Holders Association asserted that it was speaking on behalf of 250 000 Zimbabweans in 2011 when it filed a class action lawsuit at the Gauteng High Court to demand that holder of special permits is recognised as permanent residents.

Zimstat’s estimate is marginally higher than Statistics SA’s national census results from 2011, which indicated that 672 308 Zimbabweans were living in South Africa out of a total population of 2 188 872 foreigners in the nation.

Zimstat reports that in 2010 more Zimbabweans left their nation than at any time since it gained independence in 1980.

Since 2000, there has been a noticeable increase, but following the 2017 revolution that toppled the late Robert Mugabe, who passed away three years ago, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people fleeing the nation.

Economic difficulties and the need for greater pay among skilled workers, who make up the majority of the migrants departing Zimbabwe, are to blame for the exodus.

Zimstat said, 58% of the emigrants were professionals, employees in service and sales, as well as those in crafts and associated trades. All emigrants left the country for employment-related reasons 84% of the time, family-related reasons 9% of the time, and social displacement 1% of the time.

Statistics SA estimates the total number of foreign nationals in South Africa at 3.95 million, which includes both legal and unauthorized immigrants.
There were 4.2 million foreign nationals in South Africa, according to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) of the United Nations in 2019.

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