Over 160,000 African immigrants flee South Africa amid xenophobic violence, causing severe labor shortages

Over 160,000 African immigrants have fled South Africa. This has drastic consequences – from small-scale trade in the townships to large farms.

22 July 2026 | 20:15 UTC

Bag and baggage: Zimbabweans leave South Africa fearing violence, here at the bus station in Pretoria on June 28. Photo: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty

From Harare and Johannesburg

Savious Kwinika, Akani Chauke, and Marcus Mushonga

Following the xenophobic campaigns of recent months in South Africa, over 160,000 African migrants have left the country. Zimbabwe alone has now taken in 108,360 returnees, according to the latest official figures from this week. A total of 46,890 returned to Malawi, according to official data.

In third place is Mozambique, which reports 2,000 returnees — though only those brought back by the government. The total number of returnees is estimated at around 20,000. Nigeria has repatriated 1,490 of its citizens from South Africa, and Ghana 926. Further returnees are reported by Uganda, Lesotho, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At South Africa's busiest border crossing, Beitbridge into Zimbabwe, the "Beitbridge Reception and Support Centre" — jointly operated by Zimbabwe's government and the UN migration organization IOM (International Organisation for Migration) — now processes between 1,000 and 2,400 people daily. IOM, aid agencies, and authorities then support them with food, shelter, transport, and healthcare.

The South African aid organization "Gift of the Givers" has distributed over 75,000 meals. People also urgently need blankets and counseling about their future. A total of 1,474 people have required medical treatment in Beitbridge, and 416 buses have so far brought returnees to their home communities across the country.

In KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa's sugar harvest is at risk

Of the over 108,000 returnees from South Africa — more than a tenth of the Zimbabweans living there — the Zimbabwean government has brought back a good third through organized repatriations. The others have returned to Zimbabwe on their own, some via Botswana. So far, 15,065 returnees have registered as job seekers, mostly in the areas of domestic services, construction work, and agriculture.

In South Africa, labor is becoming scarce accordingly. In the most populous province, KwaZulu-Natal, sugarcane plantations are reporting a huge labor shortage because so many have left. Pratish Sharma, chairman of the "Maidstone Local Grower Council" and a sugar farmer near Tongaat, reports that some harvests cannot be brought in and large parts of the production are at risk of rotting in the fields. One farmer lost 100 workers and only found 20 new ones.

Radical xenophobic groups in South Africa had set "illegal" immigrants a deadline to voluntarily leave the country by June 30 or be forced to do so thereafter. Xenophobic violence in this context has claimed at least four lives. Not only migrants without regular residence status have left South Africa, but also others, as some employers no longer want to hire foreigners and many migrants fear harassment by self-appointed vigilantes who arbitrarily check IDs.

The promise that a massive exodus of immigrants would create more jobs for locals — in a country with an official unemployment rate of 32 percent — apparently does not hold true. Those who leave South Africa take their skills with them, and in many professions it is extremely difficult to find replacements.

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