As Zimbabweans commit suicide due to South African deportations, Jacinta, are you now happy?

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

The tragic news of Luke Sithole, a 38-year-old man from Watershed Village in Chipinge who took his own life shortly after being deported from South Africa, has sent shockwaves across Zimbabwe.

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His story is a harrowing glimpse into the profound human cost of forced returns.

Handed back to a country he had left in search of livelihood, Sithole returned empty-handed, having been stripped of the assets and property he spent years accumulating.

Overwhelmed by the loss of his livelihood, the humiliation of starting from scratch, and the crushing anxiety of an uncertain future, he saw no way out other than hanging himself from a tree outside his family home.

Sithole’s death is not an isolated misfortune, but the direct fallout of a hostile environment cultivated by radical xenophobic movements in South Africa.

Throughout this year, anti-migrant campaigns—chiefly spearheaded by Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and her March and March Movement—led to a climate of fear and intimidation.

This wave of intolerance culminated in the June 30 deadline demanding all foreign nationals leave the country, triggering forced evictions that continue to play out today.

Ever since these aggressive anti-migrant protests gained momentum, foreign nationals across South Africa have endured unspeakable hardships.

Immigrants faced violent physical attacks, were evicted from their residences, and had to watch helplessly as mobs invaded their places of employment, forcing businesses to dismiss non-South African workers.

Deprived of their income, many became stranded, lacking even the basic funds required to travel back home and sleeping in the open.

Reports from repatriation centers like Lindela describe appalling, subhuman conditions, leading many detained immigrants to refuse transfer to such facilities out of sheer desperation.

For those pushed back across the border, the reality waiting in Zimbabwe is equally unforgiving.

Returnees step into an economy crippled by a formal unemployment rate exceeding 90 percent.

Here, roughly 85 percent of the working population survives hand-to-mouth in the informal sector through street vending or backyard operations.

Without formal job opportunities or start-up capital, returnees immediately find themselves unable to support themselves or the families who once depended on their remittances.

This sudden loss of income drives vulnerable households deeper into extreme poverty, in a country where an estimated 90 percent of the population already struggles beneath the poverty line.

Deprived of financial support, children are forced to drop out of school.

State safety nets offer little relief, as government initiatives like the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) owe millions of dollars in unpaid tuition fees dating back to 2023.

Compounding this economic misery is a painful social rejection: some returnees are shunned by their own relatives, who once welcomed their financial aid but now view them as financial burdens.

Beyond economic starvation, returnees face severe political persecution.

According to the Zimbabwe Peace Project’s August monitoring report, two returnees in Muzarabani South were denied government food aid and discriminated against by a local leader due to perceived opposition affiliations.

In Mwenezi North, another returned migrant was coerced by traditional leadership to repeatedly chant ruling-party slogans at community meetings to prove his political loyalty.

This harassment underlines a dark irony: many had originally fled Zimbabwe to escape political coercion, only to be forced back into the same oppressive apparatus.

Trapped between economic ruin, social ostracization, and state-sponsored intimidation, the psychological strain on these returnees has reached a breaking point, driving some to end their own lives.

Faced with this trail of destruction, one must address the architect of this crusade directly.

Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, are you happy now?

Are you satisfied hearing that Zimbabweans forced out by your movement are now unable to feed their families?

Do you feel accomplished knowing that innocent children are dropping out of school, or that returnees are being persecuted by the very regime they fled?

Does it bring you gratification to know that human beings you deemed unwanted are choosing death over this misery, leaving vulnerable children orphaned?

Shame on you, Jacinta.

You have proven yourself to be nothing more than a heartless coward.

Instead of scapegoating migrants, you should have directed your energy and resources toward holding your own government accountable for South Africa’s systemic failures.

It is utter foolishness to claim that a foreign population accounting for barely four percent of the country is responsible for widespread unemployment.

The loss of Luke Sithole and others like him must serve as an indelible stain on the collective conscience of those who weaponized xenophobia for political gain.

Driven from a country that exploited their labor only to cast them out into an unforgiving economic and political landscape at home, these returnees were backed into a dark, inescapable corner where death felt like the only relief.

Scapegoating vulnerable immigrants may score cheap political points and satisfy populist rage, but it builds nothing; it only leaves a wake of shattered families, orphaned children, and avoidable graves.

Jacinta and her movement may celebrate these deportations as a victory, but history will record it for what it truly is: a cruel, cowardly crusade that traded human lives for headlines.

It is time to grow up, Jacinta, take responsibility, and face the human misery you caused.

• *Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or *

  mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com