Malawians repatriated from South Africa amid xenophobia concerns
A group of 150 Malawians repatriated from South Africa amid growing worries about xenophobia are due to arrive by road in their home country on Monday, the Malawian authorities have said.
The repatriation follows violence in South Africa’s Western Cape Province where there were reports a week ago of door-to-door intimidation, as well as the deaths of two Mozambicans in Mossel Bay.
The Malawians were “among a number of foreign nationals” who had “sought refuge in temporary camps” in Mossel Bay, according to a statement from Lilongwe.
Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have also organised repatriation efforts after raising concern about xenophobia in South Africa.
Anti-migrant groups are demanding undocumented migrants leave the country – and have set 30 June as a deadline.
In a national address on Sunday aimed at easing tensions, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a raft of new measures to crackdown on illegal migration.
But he also warned South Africans not to take the law into their own hands. He told South Africans there was “no space for xenophobia, racism, sexism, Afrophobia or any other forms of intolerance” in the country.
A group of 74 Zimbabweans arrived home on Sunday after being driven from Mossel Bay in transport organised by the Zimbabwean authorities. Some families with young children say they fled the Western Cape fearing for their safety.
At the end of last month, Ghana organised a repatriation flight from Johannesburg for nearly 300 of its citizens. A group of about 680 more arrived in Ghana’s capital, Accra, at the weekend.
On Saturday, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola accused his Ghanaian counterpart of spreading misinformation about xenophobia in South Africa.
In a post on X, linking to an interview that Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa gave to a news station in Accra, Lamola described what he heard as “deeply disappointing”.
