The Zimbabwe embassy and its consulates urged their nationals in SA to be vigilant and law abiding. Good advice, but a better one would have been to have urged them to emulate the 600 Nigerian nationals in SA who responded positively to their compatriot who provided them a free ride back to Nigeria on the two airplanes he sent to SA.

Although the Nigerians who took advantage of this offer were miniscule, they demonstrated that it was better to depart from "xenophobic SA" when glorious Nigeria was available.

The Zimbabwean government should have simply provided free transport for its nationals back home rather than leave them to suffer from the torments and indignities they are subjected to here merely for being Zimbabweans in SA.

After all South Africans have full employment, are free from criminal assaults, are all law abiding and are not subjected to the horrors that the Zimbabweans experience daily in SA. Locals live in nirvana while foreign nationals live in the hell that is SA.

Even better still: the Zimbabwean government should improve on the comical and ramshackle border "fence" that Patricia de Lille built between Zimbabwe and SA. That is, Zimbabwe should take active measures to stem the floods of its citizens inundating SA with its illegal immigrants.

SA has no budget to accommodate all and sundry who escape from the depredations of their home countries.

Prof Themba Sono, email