South Africans, lock your doors and hide your jobs! Zimbabweans are coming.
Following ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula’s celebratory tweet praising President Mnangagwa’s contested election victory, outraged Zimbabweans have declared their intentions to flee their country en masse.
Mbalula’s tweet, which featured triumphant emojis and exclamations of “Viva President Mnangagwa,” quickly garnered over 400,000 views, triggering a flurry of reactions from both Zimbabwean and South African citizens.
“We are all coming to South Africa,” tweeted one Zimbabwean, while another wrote “Dear South Africans, get ready.”
Mbalula’s tweet appears to have been interpreted as the ANC’s endorsement of ZANU-PF and the recently concluded election which was heavily criticised by some election observers.
“When we come to stay in your country just don’t kill us and burn us. You are also feeding on our struggles and tears,” pleaded one Zimbabwean immigrant.
Samkeliso Tshuma expressed her dismay, tweeting, “As we flood to South Africa. Lina yini itype that God of the Bible in the Old Testament ayelibulala there and there. You praise men that are corrupt and violate human rights”
Similarly, Lovely cautioned South Africa, saying, “When we come to stay in your country just don’t kill us and burn us. You are also feeding on our struggles and tears.”
With Zimbabweans accounting for the largest group of immigrants in South Africa, numbering over 1 million, mass immigration could have dire consequences.
Xenophobic tensions already run high in the country.“ANC is celebrating ‘sham election’ results? What a time to be alive in SADC?” wrote Tafadzwa Banda, echoing the disbelief of many social media users.
Zimbabwe’s opposition has called Mnangagwa’s victory “daylight robbery” amid widespread allegations of voter intimidation and electoral fraud by the ruling ZANU-PF party.
But Mbalula and the ANC appear either oblivious or indifferent to these concerns. As one tweeter prophetically warned:
“If the ANC supports Zanu-PF with all the evidence of a rigged election, we are in serious trouble.”
Indeed, trouble appears imminent. With the ANC celebrating electoral authoritarianism next door, Zimbabweans are giving up hope and preparing to seek refuge en masse in South Africa.
Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba has yet to issue a statement on the impending influx. But if angry reactions online are any indication, he should expect a few more uninvited guests soon.
Source iHarare
