“There were about 1,000 Malawians who were sleeping in the open after fleeing their homes while waiting to be repatriated,” said Dumisani Nleya, director of the Phoenix Foundation of Zimbabwe, who has been volunteering at the Malawian Consulate in Johannesburg to distribute essential supplies.
JOHANNESBURG, July 18 — Wrapped in blankets against Johannesburg’s biting winter cold, hundreds of Malawian nationals waited outside their country’s consulate, hoping to board buses home after fleeing their residences amid escalating anti-immigration tensions in South Africa.
“There were about 1,000 Malawians who were sleeping in the open after fleeing their homes while waiting to be repatriated,” said Dumisani Nleya, director of the Phoenix Foundation of Zimbabwe, who has been volunteering at the Malawian Consulate in Johannesburg to distribute essential supplies.
According to Nleya, the migrants spent days outside the consulate without access to sanitation facilities, while some South Africans visited the site asking why they had not yet left despite a so-called ultimatum for undocumented migrants to leave the country by June 30.
Just a few kilometers away in Johannesburg’s central business district, anti-immigration demonstrations continued on Thursday as March and March, along with other groups, staged another protest as part of their campaign calling for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa.
The demonstrations have become a weekly Thursday event since nationwide protests began on June 30. In some areas, self-appointed vigilante groups have gone beyond street protests, conducting so-called “door-to-door” inspections of homes and businesses to identify foreign nationals and taking some of them to the police.
“We will march until all undocumented migrants have left South Africa,” Sandile Dube, spokesperson for March and March, told Xinhua.
“We want radical changes to migration laws, and we want the township economy to be in the hands of South Africans,” Dube said, adding that they want the government to declare “illegal migration” a national disaster.
As the protests continue, the South African government said it is facilitating the voluntary repatriation of foreign nationals while strengthening migration management.
In an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday, Mava Scott, chief director for Cluster Communication at the Government Communication and Information System, said the government is assisting migrants from several African countries, including Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, who have requested to return home voluntarily.
According to the latest figures released by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration, 53,449 foreign nationals had been processed for deportation or voluntary repatriation by July 11, up from 15,162 on June 26. More than 80 percent were Malawian nationals, while 2,615 people had been repatriated to countries beyond the Southern African Development Community, including Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and the Republic of the Congo.
Scott said the repatriation process was progressing despite logistical challenges, as more people continued to arrive at designated collection points. He added that South Africa was verifying identities and ensuring that those returning had not committed crimes before departure.
“We are tightening the law to deal with undocumented migrants, securing South Africa’s borders, and using modern technology such as drones and body cameras. We are also strengthening the migration system. We also have a long-term project of engaging African countries to address migration,” he said.
While acknowledging public concerns, Scott stressed that enforcement must remain within the law.
“It is a constitutional right to march, but people should not harass, intimidate or use violence,” he said, noting that only immigration officers are authorized to verify a person’s immigration status.
Scott said migration is driven by both “push and pull factors,” including political instability, unemployment and limited economic opportunities in countries of origin, while South Africa continues to attract migrants because of its relatively stable environment. Yet, he stressed that migration must be legal and orderly.
Migration experts, however, argue that the unrest reflects much deeper socio-economic challenges.
Jo Vearey, an associate professor at the African Center for Migration and Society at the University of the Witwatersrand, told Xinhua that migrants are being used as scapegoats for South Africa’s persistent challenges of inequality, unemployment and pressure on public services.
Blaming migrants for these challenges is “factually incorrect,” she said.
Warning that attacks on migrant-owned businesses could ultimately hurt South Africa’s own economy, Vearey said the closure of spaza shops could drive up food prices, while forcing other migrant-owned businesses to close would disrupt local economies, regional trade and investment.
“The disruption will affect South Africa, the region and even cross-border trade. South Africa’s reputation would be damaged. We are alarmed by what we are seeing,” she said. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
