Zimbabwe: It Feels Like I Have Lost My Future, I Thought of Dying

LORRAINE Ncube (18), one of two Zimbabwean siblings being deported from South Africa in ongoing clampdown on illegal migration, says she feels like her future has been lost.

Her brother, Lawrence (16), told South African broadcaster SABC News that he thought of dying when they were rounded up from their then Moletji home, outside Polokwane, and taken to a processing centre in Musina, a few kilometres from Beit Bridge.

They are now amongst thousands others fleeing the worsening situation across South Africa which has seen vigilante groups such as March and March, individuals led by Phakelumthakathi and former journalist Jacinta Zuma, hunting down foreigners at times door by door.

Lorraine, who matriculated last year, said she did not know if Zimbabwe had the subjects she had been studying and hoped to study for her career.

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"It is very sad leaving this country because it is the only country that I know, I have never been to any country but here and it is going to be something new," said Lorraine.

"It feels like I have lost my future because I studied here, I matriculated last year and got a Bachelors Pass, so I feel like I lost everything.

"I do not know if the country that we will be going to has the subjects I was doing here. I was doing technical subjects.

"I do not know if they will accept me at one of their universities. I really wanted to go to one of the universities in South Africa."

Lorraine has a child with a South African man. The child, which she had strapped to her back, will also be leaving the country with her after immigration officials indicated that despite reservations by the father, nothing had been done to register the baby.

The Zimbabwean government and some well wishers Zimbabwe have already evacuated tens of thousands of their nationals.

This is however believed to be a drop in the ocean as South Africa is said to be home to millions more.

Their presence alongside Nigerians, Malawians, Ghanaians, Ethiopians, Mozambicans and Congolese has been seen as the main reason why South Africans are struggling to get employed.

Others say foreigners are bringing in drugs and raising crime.

Lawrence said he felt humiliated after being caught and ordered out of South Africa.

"I feel sad and humiliated. Leaving what I love behind is very painful. I feel frustrated and sad.

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"This situation is affecting me, yesterday I thought I could die."

Former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has surprisingly come out in support of the vigilante type of deportations that have seen people losing millions of rand worth of property.