For Charles Moyo there is a sense for déjà vu in the threats of xenophobic violence in South Africa come the end of the soccer World Cup today.
Moyo, who has been resident in South Africa for the past five years, says he witnessed the May 2008 violence. Although he was not affected he felt this time the threats were real and was scared for his life.
"I have taken leave from work and will only return to that country when everything settles down, I cannot take chances," he said from Harare's Roadport terminus, where he had just alighted from a bus from South Africa.
The terminus has a heightened wave of activity, which touts attribute to the spectre of violence raised by rumours that foreigners will be brutally ejected from South Africa at the end of the soccer showcase.
Very few travellers were willing to speak, but most were carrying used refrigerators and stoves and other household goods suggesting that they were not for resale and they could be fleeing after fears that xenophobic violence could grip South Africa.
Touts jokingly taunt passengers asking them where they thought they were going to in the first place, now they have to return to Zimbabwe.
News reports from South Africa suggest that locals in some of the townships embarked on a door-to-door campaign, advising foreigners to leave the country at the end of the World Cup.
A Zimbabwean man was recently thrown out of a moving train and is said to be recovering at a South African hospital.
In Kraaifontein, a suburb of Cape Town television images showed Zimbabweans packing their belongings and heading to a garage along the highway where they board haulage trucks bound for Johannesburg from where it is easy to get lifts to Zimbabwe.
However, it is reported that South Africans were now following them there and robbing them of their possessions.
Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa so far maintains that threats of xenophobia could be nothing but baseless rumours, though he claims that police and the military were on high alert.
It is said that there is a high presence of security officials in Diepsloot, the eye of the last xenophobic storm to grip South Africa.
But such a cavalier approach, dismissing the threats of violence as mere rumours is reminiscent of former President Thabo Mbeki's era. In 2008 Mbeki was late to respond and, when he did, blamed a third hand for masterminding the violence.
Despite assurances that the situation was under control, Moyo said he was not going to return to that country until the situation settled down.
"I do not want to be a statistic my friend, I will wait and see. I would rather lose everything I have in that country than my life," he said.
Among their crimes, foreigners are accused of "stealing South Africans' jobs and wives", crimes which they should pay for by either fleeing the country or through physical harm or even death.
It is believed that there are three million legal and illegal Zimbabwean immigrants in the neighbouring country and the number could have risen in recent years as there was demand for labour in the construction industries and areas that were directly linked to the World Cup.
A significant number of Zimbabweans in South Africa fled the political and economic meltdown orchestrated by President Robert Mugabe and his party Zanu PF.
In 2008 a wave of xenophobic violence swept through South Africa and the most gripping picture was that of a burning Mozambican national who had a tyre put around him, doused with petrol before being set alight.
This method of lynching is known as "necklacing".
For a fortnight at least 60 people were killed by violent mobs. The violence, extinguished in one part, quickly reappeared in another, with Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban experiencing the worst of it.
About 35 000 people were hounded from their homes and these were accommodated in open areas and tents by the South African government.
South Africa has often been described as a country with two economies, one for the wealthy and another for the poor.
The poor often reside in slums, have no access to income and are disgruntled that 16 years after independence they cannot find jobs in their country.
It is because of this discontent that locals often resort to violence and vent their anger and frustration at foreigners.
There are reports that, as in 2008, there is a flood of people thronging the Beitbridge border post, as Zimbabweans try to beat today's deadline, set by mobs, to leave South Africa.
A source at the border post said officials had handled more than 4 000 undocumented travellers compared to about an average of 1 300 in the preceding weeks.
The assistant regional manager-in-charge of Beitbridge border post, Charles Gwede declined to comment, referring all questions to head office in Harare.
Copyright © 2010 Zimbabwe Standard.
