‘If I am to die, let it be here’: Malawians fleeing unrest in South Africa
A mass return of Malawians from South Africa exposes the cost of migration, violence and broken livelihoods. Luchenza, Malawi – When Janet Kapito left Lolo
A mass return of Malawians from South Africa exposes the cost of migration, violence and broken livelihoods. Luchenza, Malawi – When Janet Kapito left Lolo village for South Africa in 2022, she hoped to save enough money to buy land and build a house back home in Malawi. Instead, the 27-year-old mother of three has returned with her eight-month-old baby and little else after fleeing anti-foreigner violence. Even the few belongings she managed to carry were stolen aboard one of the buses ferrying Malawians home ahead of the June 30 deadline. “I was staying indoors after the protests started and I could not work,” Kapito told Al Jazeera. Standing beside the unfinished foundation of the house she had hoped to build with her earnings, Kapito said she made 2,000 rand a month working at a restaurant owned by a Nigerian. She spoke softly, her voice barely audible. She said the dust from the open field where she had fled during the attacks had affected her throat. Her Malawian husband, whom she met in South Africa, is still on his way home. With no money left, Kapito received 70,000 Malawian kwacha (about $40) after arriving at Kamuzu Stadium, where returnees are being processed before travelling to their home districts.
Fleeing with nothing The Malawi government is facilitating the return of thousands of its citizens, many of whom have worked for years in South Africa’s informal sector. Well-wishers have also raised money to help bus stranded Malawians back home. Local media say 6,936 Malawians have returned home since the repatriation exercise began. In an earlier statement, Malawi’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs estimated that about 10,000 Malawians in South Africa were in distress and said it had activated a “comprehensive response plan” to ensure the “safe, orderly and dignified” return of those affected. South African authorities say 15,162 Malawian nationals have so far been processed for deportation and repatriation. Many of the returnees told Al Jazeera that they had borrowed money at high interest to travel to South Africa and were still struggling to repay the loans after COVID-19 lockdowns disrupted their livelihoods. They described fleeing their homes with nothing and sheltering in an open field in Durban as attacks on foreign nationals intensified. Return crisis For Thokozani Mphola, 33, from Lomola in Thyolo District, leaving South Africa became a matter of survival. “I said if I am going to die, let me die in my home country,” Mphola told Al Jazeera shortly after arriving home, where neighbours and friends embraced her outside her mother’s house in Luchenza.
The BriefWire