By Own Correspondent| South Africa’s African National Congress’s (ANC) elections head Fikile Mbalula said it is in the interest of their country for Zimbabwe’s economy to flourish considering the number of people that have migrated to his nation due to the economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mbalula said that South Africa has to assist Zimbabwe to find a solution to the challenges that the country is facing so that  Zimbabweans living in South Africa go back home.

Speaking to journalists in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Mbalula said:

Zimbabweans are here because there is no employment in Zimbabwe, so the economy of Zimbabwe must flourish. It is in our interest.

If Zimbabwe flourishes, Zimbabweans will go to Zimbabwe and work for their country. There is no employment there, they come to our country looking for opportunities.

Mmusi Maimane [the DA leader] is saying there must be sanctions on Zimbabwe. He supports undemocratic means and we are not supporting that. We are working with Zimbabweans to find a solution to their challenges.

Petrol is R45 a litre in Zimbabwe – what world is that? It is our neighbour next door. When the people of Lesotho, Swaziland or Botswana are suffering, they will come to our South Africa so we have got to work with these countries in our neighbours to ensure that we bring prosperity in their countries.

Zimbabwe is facing an economic crisis that has been ongoing for close to two decades. However, things have turned for the worse since former President Mugabe was pushed out of power by the military in 2017. This has resulted in an exodus of thousands of Zimbabweans, most of them trekking down to South Africa.