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Auxilia Katongomara Chronicle Reporter
SOUTH AFRICA contributes the highest proportion of foreigners working in Zimbabwe, official government figures show. The migrant population living in Zimbabwe is estimated at around 207,000, of whom 78,000 were labour migrants. The 2014 Labour Force and Child Labour Survey by the government statistics agency, ZimStat, reveals that South Africans account for almost half of labour migrants in the country.

“Neighbouring countries that share a border with Zimbabwe accounted for the majority of in-coming labour migrants with South Africa accounting for the highest percentage at around 45 percent followed by Mozambique and Malawi with about 22 percent and 15 percent respectively,” said ZimStat.

Zambia also registered highly.

The figures come as Zimbabweans and other Africans working in South Africa are facing attack from anti-foreigner gangs who accuse them of stealing their jobs.

At least two Zimbabweans are known to have died in the latest crime wave, while two survived a gun attack in the poor Johannesburg neighbourhood of Alexandra.

ZimStats says 33 percent of the labour migrants coming into Zimbabwe are unskilled, with a majority of them employed as skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers.

It is estimated that around eight percent of the immigrants are educated up to diploma or degree level.

The ZimStat figures also show that South Africa (85,7 percent) was the dominant country of stay for emigrants from Zimbabwe followed by Botswana (5,8 percent) and Mozambique (2,1 percent).

Overseas England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined had slightly above one percent of all Zimbabwean emigrants.