HARARE – The Zimbabwean government has repatriated 21,291 of its nationals from South Africa through state-assisted arrangements since the exercise began on May 28, 2026, while a further 56,832 have returned independently, bringing the total number of returnees to more than 78,000.

Information minister Zhemu Soda, briefing journalists following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said an inter-ministerial committee had been established at the Beitbridge Reception Centre to oversee the receiving, registration and transportation of returnees.

He said a wide range of interventions were being implemented to facilitate the repatriation and reintegration exercise, including a 24-hour inter-ministerial command centre at the Beitbridge border post, the deployment of 50 ZUPCO buses to ferry returnees to their home provinces, and the provision of reception, registration, profiling, screening, social protection and psychosocial support services at Beitbridge and at receiving district centres.

Soda said the government had also set up temporary accommodation facilities, a temporary clinic with ambulances for emergency response, and mobile ablution facilities to improve sanitation at the reception centre, alongside “continuous mobilisation of resources to sustain transportation, reception and re-integration operations.”

The repatriation exercise follows a wave of anti-immigrant hostility in South Africa, where citizen-led groups set June 30 as an unofficial deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave the country, sparking marches that at times turned violent.

President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed ahead of the protests to crush any attempts to destabilise the nation.

Government-hired buses have been supplemented by donations from businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei’s Bridging Gaps Foundation, which has contributed 11 buses, as well as vehicles from Paul Tungwarara and Esau Mupfumi.

The Higherlife Foundation and Life Foundation have each donated an ambulance to the Beitbridge Reception Centre, while development partners including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the Adventist Relief and Development Agency have provided food, blankets and other essential services.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appealed to Zimbabweans to welcome returnees “with the true African values of compassion, love and caring for one another,” saying the government had comprehensive programmes in place to ensure their “seamless, safe and dignified reintegration.”

There are no accurate figures of Zimbabweans based in South Africa, although estimates by various bodies consistently put them at over a million people.