[2] Numbers spiked sharply that year, as 25,000 Zimbabweans formerly living in South Africa fled across two borders to Zambia as a result of the May 2008 riots, ignoring a call by Robert Mugabe to return to their homeland.
[8] Zimbabweans living in the border area also cross Lake Kariba into Zambia in search of food, selling or bartering chickens for mealie meal.
[9] Zimbabwean cross-border traders who buy mealie meal in bulk in Zambia and then bring it back to Zimbabwe for sale have been blamed for food shortages in border areas.
The capital they brought, combined with general economic liberalisation under the late Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, has been credited with stimulating an agricultural boom in Zambia.
[14] Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe harshly criticised his Zambian counterpart Levy Mwanawasa for taking in the white farmers, whom he called "racist colonialists".