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South Africa’s businesses say xenophobia is having impact on income

Informal Cross Border Traders women share information after a training on safe migration conducted by IOM (photo: © IOM 2009 - MZW0057 / Erin Foster)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Numbers for Zimbabwean and other African migrant workers leaving South Africa are hard to come by but it’s clear they have been leaving in the wake of xenophobic threats, particularly in the Western Cape in the past few days.

Small businesses in the region say they are hurting financially, with a 40 percent drop in the number of people taking group taxis and landlords finding tenants have fled the premises.

Geneva-based IOM (International Organization for Migration) said earlier in the week that it was scaling up its operations at border posts to help Zimbabweans returning home, because of an increase in numbers.

IOM safe migration campaign at Matshiloni, Beitbridge Central (photo: © IOM 2009 - MZW0071 / Robert Mageza)

AllAfrica/SW Radio Africa reports that scores of stranded Zimbabwe families line the Beitbridge highways to Harare and Bulaweyo because they fled South Africa with little or no money.

The IOM has also been running a safety campaign in Beitbridge to help migrant and cross-border workers from Zimbabwe, part of a larger programme to provide help with a number of border problems.