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allAfrica.com: South Africa: African Governments Begin Repatriating Its Nationals (Page 1 of 2)

allAfrica.com: South Africa: African Governments Begin Repatriating Its Nationals (Page 1 of 2)
Chris Mapanga, of the Zimbabwean consulate in Johannesburg, said his government was "organising voluntary repatriations and the work is in progress. We are at a very advanced stage." He declined to reveal the numbers of those requesting repatriation or when the repatriations would begin, and what type of transport would be used.

"It is not like an instant lightning strike. Xenophobia starts at 1 p.m. and then the buses [for those wanting to be repatriated] leave at 1.30 p.m.," he told IRIN.

Mapanga said research indicated that there were about 800,000 to one million Zimbabweans in South Africa; other estimates have put the number of people who have fled the eight-year recession at more than three million. Annual inflation in Zimbabwe is unofficially estimated at 1,000,000 percent, with severe shortages of food, fuel and energy.

Widespread reports of violence ahead of Zimbabwe's second presidential poll on 27 June - scheduled after neither President Robert Mugabe, of the ZANU-PF party, nor opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai achieved the required 50 percent plus one vote majority - is also believed to have increased undocumented migration to South Africa.

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