Despite nearly 20 000 Malawian nationals having been repatriated over the past few weeks, the number of those still seeking repatriation continues to grow. Some migrants have been transported from Durban, Pietermaritzburg and parts of the Eastern Cape.
The Department of Home Affairs says 90% of these people are undocumented. More than 8 000 left Durban in the past two days alone.
But thousands are still waiting for space on buses at the old Durban drive-in, while others are still waiting to enter the temporary transit site.
More Malawian nationals, women, men and children continue to arrive at the old Durban drive-in, which has been set up as a temporary transit camp.
They are processed before boarding buses bound for Malawi. Limited space inside the camp has forced some people to wait outside until others have departed. Only then are they allowed onto the premises.
One of those waiting is Gift Siyabu, who says he worked as a plumber in South Africa, earning a good living. He is now returning to Malawi – leaving behind his partner and child.
“I’ve been here since September 2017. I was working but not like a proper job, I was doing my own job because I know plumbing. I know how to plaster. It was good, my job, because I was used to charging my own prices, the amount that I wanted. I have a daughter here and even my wife, she really loves me. I tried talking to her to tell her let’s go together to Malawi, she refused.”
Moosa Lodge says he does not blame the government or civic groups for demanding that undocumented foreign nationals leave the country. He hopes to come back to South Africa once he has obtained the proper documentation.
“After we get the right papers, we need to come back because we living here and we were working. You see, there are thousands and thousands of people working in different places. Some were working in the companies. And then as we are leaving now, bosses are crying for the workers now. So, we need to come back. But the government officials by the border must check that you got the right documents to work.”
Mildred Maas is five months pregnant. She says a doctor earlier scheduled a caesarian section due to complications, but she decided to rather leave the country.
Malawian nationals have called for the process to be speeded up. The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration has announced that foreign nationals gathered in Durban will be transported to a temporary repatriation centre that is being set up at Musina.
No timelines were given.
VIDEO | Thousands of undocumented Malawians queue in Durban to be repatriated:
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