PRETORIA, South Africa — South Africa has processed more than 15,000 Malawian nationals to exit the country ahead of next week’s anti-immigration marches that many fear could turn violent, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said on Friday, with thousands more awaiting clearance in makeshift encampments.
Citizen-led groups have issued an unofficial June 30 deadline for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country and called nationwide marches, raising fears of renewed xenophobic violence. The main xenophobic movement leading the charge, called March and March, has given all illegal immigrants until June 30 to leave, and they have not specified what will happen when the deadline passes.
“To date, a total of 15,162 Malawian nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation, and more are still undergoing the verification process,” Kubayi said. Living conditions in parts of southeastern KwaZulu-Natal province, where Malawians had gathered for weeks, had become “untenable,” she added.
Thousands of terrified Malawians have flocked to the old Durban Drive-In site to escape xenophobic attacks. Relief workers are caring for about 11,000 people at the site, which spans approximately one square kilometre a few hundred metres from the beachfront. Many have been camping for more than a week, waiting to be sent home.
The repatriation process has been excruciatingly slow. Returnees queue to be fingerprinted at a police desk to check for criminal records, then move to a Home Affairs queue and finally to a desk staffed by Malawian officials before getting their names on a list to board a bus. “It is difficult for me to say how long this will take. This is not something that will be finished soon,” said Cyril Mncwabe, provincial manager of Home Affairs.
Growing security fears after businesses were looted and foreigners targeted have forced several countries, including Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to offer voluntary repatriations for their nationals. South Africa’s Border Management Authority said it processed 8,200 foreign nationals for repatriation between June 12 and 24 at the Beitbridge border post with Zimbabwe, including 6,709 Malawians and 1,521 Zimbabweans.
South Africa has been on edge following weeks of sometimes violent xenophobic unrest that has left at least three people dead, according to official sources. Mozambican authorities put the toll among their nationals at five. A Malawian national was also killed during a march in Pietermaritzburg, Kubayi said.
The repatriation has dominated headlines in Malawi, with families anxiously waiting for relatives to return and growing public anger over how undocumented migrants are being treated. Nation Publications Limited journalist Kandani Ngwira said public concern in Malawi is focused largely on videos circulating on social media showing undocumented migrants being confronted in South Africa.
“There’s a lot of anger, a lot of concern, particularly because of the manner in which the Malawians are being treated,” Ngwira said, adding that while being in a country without valid documentation is illegal, those affected should still be treated humanely.
Past flare-ups of violence targeting undocumented foreign nationals have been deadly, with 62 people killed in riots in 2008 and deadly riots again in 2019. The latest tensions come ahead of local government elections scheduled for November 4.
