Last week, Thabo Mbeki came out saying that in 2008, nefarious but unnamed elements, orchestrated xenophobic violence upon Zimbabweans to force them to return back to Zimbabwe, to overthrow their government.
In 2022, the same agenda was driven by the Zimbabwean opposition, their activists, white sponsors, the Patriotic Alliance, Put South Africa First, Mashaba, and various political actors working in cahoots with the U.S. embassy in South Africa.
The agenda was the same as 2008: incite hate and xenophobic attacks to force the mass exodus of Zimbabweans while the South African government looked aside. Thankfully, despite the instigation, the masses of South Africans remained disinterested. Some even contacted us privately and gave us the names of the mostly white funders, Zim opposition and the secret meetings held with US officials.
To avert the mass deportation of Zimbabweans by the Afrophobic Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, Simba Chitando, played a pivotal role by fighting him in court for ZEP Holders to remain in South Africa.
Simba went as far as proposing the Motsoaledi Bill that would see all aircraft destined for South Africa that fly over Zimbabwe, paying flyover fees to Zimbabwe, to cover the pensions of ZEP holders if they were deported like slaves without their pensions.
This brave fight by the advocate emboldened Hellen Suzman, Nqukaithobi, and the South African Human Rights Commission to also join this legal fight.
After proposing the Motsoaledi Bill, Simba was attacked viciously, with calls for him to be deported. With that, I was dragged into the xenophobia fight on social media and forced to defend him.
The stance I took to back up Simba enraged some directors of ZASM who immediately resigned, feeling that Simba and I had made a unilateral decision to fight against the South African government in support of Zimbabwean permit holders and refugees without consultation with other directors.
Maybe in hindsight, there was merit in the argument of unilateralism, but the moment Simba started being attacked, I felt that there was no option but to defend a fellow director and Zimbabwean, who in essence was fighting against sanctions by other means upon Zimbabwe.
Simba Chitando and I might have fallen out over Innscor, but I feel he has not been given adequate recognition for the massive role he played to avert the mass deportation of ZEP holders and Zimbabwean refugees from South Africa before the August 2023 elections.
The fact is, had Zimbabweans been mass deported back to Zimbabwe in 2022, it could have led to an electoral loss for ZANU PF at the poles in August 2023. Worse, it could have led to Arab-Spring type, regime change protests.
In March 2022, I was invited back from Zimbabwe to a meeting by one of South Africaโs officials, after he was given clearance by state security.
In the meeting, the official told me that the ANC was committed to standing with Zimbabwe, but there were forces trying to divide the party from within, albeit they [ANC] would work to neutralize these machinations.
The fight Simba and I took up, led to claims that we were Zimbabwean spies operating covertly in South Africa, and there were mass calls for our deportations. The American government in turn pushed Twitter and Facebook to soft-block and suppress the handles of pro-Zimbabwean activists like myself, so that we would not compete with opposition voices.
From this era, Simba and I remain some of the most hated Zimbos by the โAbahambe Brigadeโ, but the fact is we had no option but to stand up for our nation.
More central to our victory was the principled position that the ANC eventually took not to mass deport Zimbabweans and to support our fight against sanctions, knowing fully well that not deporting Zimbabweans would lose them elections.
Written by Rutendo Matinyarare, Chairman of ZASM.
