BROADCASTS.com

South Africa allowed Zimbabwe to be run into the ground, says Mmusi Maimane on the Sunday Times Politics Weekly, blaming the government for the influx of Zimbabweans into SA.
\n\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for the ANC\u2019s policy on the government of national unity when [late former president of Zimbabwe Robert] Mugabe had lost elections we wouldn\u2019t have this influx of Zimbabweans,\u201d says Maimane as he is quizzed by Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma.
\nZimbabwean citizens fled to SA because of economic turmoil and political violence, among other reasons, in 2007. SA had been a mediator in that country\u2019s political conflict.\xa0
\nAccording to census figures there were just more than a million Zimbabweans in SA in 2022.
\nThe topic of undocumented migrants is dominating the political agenda in the run-up to the May 29 elections. Maimane proposes borders be secured and foreigners be legalised. He believes he can document foreigners in two years.
\nMaimane has criteria for foreigners wanting to become citizens: learn SA's laws, speak South African languages and don\u2019t set up your own community in SA.
\nThat\u2019s just the tip of the wide-ranging conversation with Maimane in this instalment of the podcast. Maimane talks about a grand coalition of opposition parties; parties he can work with; solutions to crime, saying localised policing, metro police and private police should be merged; and the controversial National Health Insurance which he says is populist and timed for the election.
\nDon't take our word for it \u2014 listen, and share your views.
\n
\nProduction by: Bulelani Nonyukela.