Harare-Two Zimbabwean nationals were reportedly killed while 171 others were reportedly affected by recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

This was revealed by Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa during a post Cabinet media briefing.

“A total of 171 Zimbabwean nationals had been affected with two of them having lost their lives. Government is deeply saddened by this occurrence and is currently in the process of making arrangements to urgently repatriate the affected citizens back home,” said Mutsvangwa.

“Government continues to monitor the situation with a view to escalating the evacuation exercise should the situation deteriorate.”

Violent attacks on foreigners reached a crescendo over the past weeks with some South Africans attacking nationals mainly from Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe accusing them of taking their jobs.

Meanwhile Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo has said whilst the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa could not be quantified efforts are underway to repatriate the 171.

“We are guessing to say how many Zimbabweans are there in South Africa today, some people were saying two to three million but we do not have exact figures as to how many Zimbabweans are there. This is actually a voluntary request of repatriation which has come from our citizens” said Moyo

Thousands of Zimbabweans left the country looking for greener pastures in foreign lands after a deteriorating economic situation.