The Sunday Mail
Tanyaradzwa Rusike
FOR Ms Virginia Mubaira (55), hers has been a long and agonising wait to return home.
When she left for South Africa 15 years ago for greener pastures, Zimbabwe was going through a painful economic phase.
“In 2008, life was very hard in Zimbabwe,” she told The Sunday Mail last week.
“I was unemployed and the cost of living was rising every day.
“At that time, I was staying at my father’s house along with my children.”
Barely able to make ends meet, she elected to relocate to South Africa to search for a job.
However, relocating to a foreign land came with its own challenges, especially for someone who did not have a valid passport.
She naturally had to skip the border.
A relative in Botswana offered to help her cross into South Africa via Botswana.
Leaving behind her three children — Marlene, Monalisa and Michelle, then aged 18, 16 and 11, respectively — to journey into the unknown was naturally heart-breaking.
“I had no idea what lay ahead for me, and leaving my young children was devastating,” she added.
In no time, she had crossed into Botswana, where she stayed for a few weeks with her relative ahead of her final move to the “Promised Land”.
With the assistance of a well-knit gang of human traffickers, whom she paid a princely sum of money, she was smuggled into South Africa, where another relative awaited her arrival.
Reality soon hit her, as she discovered that finding decent work in a foreign land with barely any tertiary qualifications was a nightmare.
Back then, all she had was a nurse aide certificate.
She had to settle for employment as a labourer on a farm in Johannesburg.
Struggling to deal with the piercing longing to be with her children, she used her first pay to facilitate their journey to South Africa, through skipping the border.
With the economic situation back home looking as if it was unlikely to normalise, she decided to settle in the neighbouring country.
As months turned into years, she soon realised that she had found a new home.
However, she also found out that working in a foreign land was no walk in the park, as the reality of rampant migrant labour abuse hit her.
“I remember being asked to train a white woman to do flower breeding by my boss,” she said.
“After training that woman, she was later offered a job at three times my salary, plus a vehicle.”
“I asked for a salary increment, but they refused and told me I needed the company more than it needed me.”
She toiled the land for more than 10 years without even being offered a contract of employment.
Her first contract would only come when she wanted to regularise her stay by applying for a work permit.
The South African Home Affairs Department required her to produce a valid work contract in order to process her permit.
“My first work contract was then drawn up for the first time in 10 years,” she said.
“The contract stated that upon termination of employment, l was not entitled to any benefit.
“I tried to reason with them that after working for them for 10 years, they should at least consider a severance package, but they refused.”
Ms Mubaira recalled how her employer refused to give her time off to attend her mother’s funeral after she passed away in 2021.
“I was terribly hurt, although I had no option because I needed my job. I couldn’t argue.
“South Africa has never been a piece of cake and home will always be best,” she concluded.
Ms Mubaira is now among the thousands of Zimbabweans preparing to return home after years of living and working in South Africa under the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP).
The ZEP programme was introduced in 2017 as a successor to the Zimbabwe Special Permits scheme, granting “special dispensation” for Zimbabweans who were in the country illegally.
In January last year, the South African government announced the termination of the ZEP arrangement by December, directing
permit holders to apply for visas to remain in the country on the basis of a list of critical skills.
The termination deadline was later extended to June this year.
For Ms Mubaira, cancellation of the ZEP programme came as a surprise.
She, however, accepted the new reality and is now preparing to join thousands of her fellow countrymen on yet another great trek, this time heading back home.
“Personally, the cancellation of permits was kind of scary. I was not ready to go back home because I had so much to plan for and do before coming back home,” she said.
“When I return later in the year, I plan to start a small project of planting fruit trees, establish a poultry project and do a bit of buying and selling of clothes.
“But mostly, I would like to rest,” she added.
There are over 178 000 ZEP permit holders in South Africa.
Zimbabwean Ambassador to South Africa Mr David Hamadziripi told The Sunday Mail recently that about 6 000 ZEP permit holders had successfully applied for alternative visas to legally stay in the neighbouring country.
Some Zimbabweans who are preparing to return have requested assistance from the embassy.
“There are individuals who have already made the decision. Some have started sending back their belongings. We have also had some inquiries and specific indications.
“It is through these requests that we have understood that the ZEP holders are not homogeneous and have different needs,” he said.
“Those with businesses are asking how they can move their equipment back to Zimbabwe.
“There are some individuals like truck drivers and domestic workers who are saying to relocate they would need Government assistance.”
The Government has already put in place measures to facilitate the seamless return of Zimbabweans from South Africa.
Returning citizens are allowed to bring a motor vehicle of their choice into the country without having to pay duty, but they will have to pay value added tax.
Normally, duty for a private vehicle in Zimbabwe is 100 percent of its value, including freight charges.
The car should not be older than 10 years.
Anyone bringing a car from South Africa needs to have owned it for at least six months before the expiry of their permit.
According to a recent notice flighted by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, anyone above the age of 16 can bring in a vehicle.
“The suspension is granted to individuals, including their spouses and children, who have previously resided or have been employed in Zimbabwe and are returning to Zimbabwe after having resided outside Zimbabwe for a period of not less than two years,” reads the notice.
There is no limit to personal property such as furniture and household goods that returnees can bring back home.
Twitter: @tdrusike
