• More than 150 buses are due at Beitbridge as the Durban repatriation site closes, with most of its 7,000 people already moved to Musina.

• Buses without proper travel certificates are being stopped at Beitbridge and sent to a truck stop, leaving passengers stranded for hours.

Thousands of Malawian nationals are stuck outside the Department of Home Affairs office in Musina, Limpopo, waiting for the papers that will let them go home.

The group arrived by bus from Durban and Pietermaritzburg on Monday, after nearly two weeks at a temporary repatriation centre there. That Durban site has now closed. Most of the roughly 7,000 people who were staying there have already been bussed to Musina.

Families spent Monday night sleeping outside the Home Affairs office under the Limpopo sun. Mothers breastfed babies in whatever shade they could find. Others used bags and blankets as pillows while they waited to be processed. Many said they had no food and no money left.

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Ishmael Omar, who wants to return to Malawi, said the wait has become desperate.

"When we left Durban, we were bathing and eating. But since Monday we have not had anything to eat. We do not have any money, so our situation is very difficult. We have asked our ambassador to help us," he said.

Some buses are not even getting through. At the Beitbridge border post, officials have been turning away buses that arrive without the correct Emergency Travel Certificates, diverting them to the Musina truck stop instead. Home Affairs has said its role stops at declaring people undesirable. It is the consulate's job to issue the travel certificates that get people through the border.

Border Management Authority Assistant Commissioner Dr Nkhuliseni Luvhengo said additional officers and guards have been deployed to manage the volume.

"We are ready to process them. Our biggest challenge is managing traffic because trucks are already queued for about eight kilometres. We want to make sure the buses are not delayed," he said.

By Tuesday morning, the border was relatively calm, but officials expect traffic to rise sharply as more convoys arrive throughout the day.