FOR 44-year-old Xolani Khoza, a wheel-alignment technician living in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, the sound of a WhatsApp notification is no longer just another social media alert.
It has become a matter of survival.
As South Africa edges closer to the June 30 deadline set by anti-immigration groups, including March and March and Operation Dudula, many undocumented foreign nationals are living in fear.
The groups have demanded that undocumented migrants leave the country by the end of the month, fuelling anxiety, reports of localised xenophobic violence and prompting several African governments to organise repatriation flights for their citizens.
Fearing arrest, detention at the Lindela Repatriation Centre or attacks by vigilante groups, many Zimbabweans living in South Africa have turned to technology, creating WhatsApp groups that serve as emergency support networks.
Through the groups, members contribute a minimum of R20 each to establish emergency funds intended to assist compatriots caught up in police operations or anti-immigrant attacks.
“We cannot just sit and wait to be slaughtered or thrown into trucks,” Khoza told NewsDay Weekender during an encrypted phone interview.
“When the threats started getting louder this month, we formed the ‘Zim Solidarity Network’ groups on WhatsApp.
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“The rule is simple: everyone contributes at least R20 into a central mobile money wallet. If a member is caught in a raid or targeted by Dudula members, that money is immediately deployed to their recovery, bribe police to release them, or help them buy food and essentials if they choose to voluntarily repatriate.”
The WhatsApp groups, some reaching the platform’s maximum capacity of more than 1 000 members, are managed by appointed administrators.
New members undergo vetting by trusted participants to minimise the risk of infiltration by vigilante groups or corrupt officials.
The financial model relies on strength in numbers.
In a group of 1 000 members, contributions of R20 each generate a pool of R20 000 that can be used to provide emergency assistance to members facing arrests or other crises.
One Zimbabwean WhatsApp group administrator in Gauteng, Tashinga Musa, said the platforms serve two key purposes: financial support and real-time information sharing.
“The R20 contributions are primarily used for rescue,” Musa said.
“If someone is swept up in a police roadblock or dragged out of their home by March and March activists, the group quickly co-ordinates.
“We use the money to pay the police directly so that they can quickly release our fellow comrade before they lock them up.
“When they lock you up and take you to Lindela, the living conditions are not favourable, so it’s better to pay the police to avoid that route.”
Beyond financial support, the groups have become live intelligence networks.
Members share voice notes, photographs and live locations warning others about police roadblocks and reported anti-immigrant patrols across Johannesburg.
“If you see blue lights near the metro station, do not go that way,” one voice note circulated last Tuesday warned.
“Police are checking IDs at the corner.”
The June 30 deadline has heightened fears among migrants.
While the South African government has dismissed widely circulated “eviction posters” as fake, anti-immigration activists have continued posting messages on social media insisting that foreign nationals must leave.
“South African police are benefiting from us being in this country, so they can’t just let us go.
“They own houses which we rent, they own taxis and other services that are widely used by foreigners,” said Precious Shoko.
“Imagine if they arrest a single Zimbabwean within our WhatsApp groups, we pay about R3 000 as a bribe so that they release them.
“We will find ways to remain in South Africa because we cannot go back to Zimbabwe where there are no jobs.
“Zimbabwe is just a difficult country because the economy is dead. Yes, home is best, but tonodyei kuZimbabwe? (What will we eat in Zimbabwe?).”
The WhatsApp groups also operate under strict security rules.
Members communicate exclusively in Shona, using coded terms such as kanzuru, madhomeni, vadzidzisi and chikwata to alert one another about police movements and Operation Dudula activities.
Members who post messages in English are reportedly removed from the groups.
Organisers say the use of Shona is intended to reduce the risk of outsiders monitoring conversations.
According to a University of Pretoria report, South Africa is home to more than one million Zimbabwean-born residents, accounting for about 45% of the country’s immigrant population.
Only a fraction are legally documented, including approximately 178 000 holders of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit.
Hundreds of thousands more are believed to be undocumented due to porous borders, Zimbabwe’s economic challenges and permit-processing backlogs.
In an interview with NewsDay Weekender, opposition politician Nelson Chamisa said Zimbabweans had resorted to forming WhatsApp support groups because of what he described as the Zimbabwean government's failure to protect its citizens.
“Self-help is a sign of government failure to protect its citizens,” he said.
“Zimbabweans make up the largest population of foreigners living in South Africa, but the government can’t even issue an official statement outlining its plans to help citizens living in danger.”
He added: “Look at countries such as Malawi, Ghana and Nigeria. They are trying their best to assist their people to return home.
“Zimbabweans are not in South Africa by choice, but because the government failed to create jobs and fix the economy.
“These are the consequences of bad governance. How can a government that demolishes the homes of its own citizens be expected to help Zimbabweans living abroad?”
Chamisa added that Zimbabweans should not lose hope in their pursuit of change, saying better days lay ahead.
For many Zimbabweans, memories of the xenophobic attacks of 2008 and 2015 remain vivid.
While some countries have organised repatriation flights for their nationals, many Zimbabweans say returning home is not a viable option because of the country’s economic challenges.
“Going back to Zimbabwe empty-handed is a death sentence of a different kind,” said Tendai Nsingo, a domestic worker in Pretoria.
“So we stay and face whatever comes. We will keep contributing our R20 into the WhatsApp group. It is our own form of insurance.
“If they break down my door tonight, I know my sisters in the group will know within five minutes, and they will help me.”
Efforts to obtain a comment from Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister Amon Murwira were unsuccessful, as his mobile phone went unanswered from Wednesday until the time of going to print.
Deputy minister Sheillah Chikomo declined to comment, while the ministry’s director for public diplomacy, communication and advocacy, Philisiwe Chidawanyika, said she would respond later as she was attending meetings.
