South Africa: 53,000 Sent Home but Not Everyone Survived the Trip

More than 53,000 foreign nationals, most of them Malawian, have been deported or repatriated from South Africa since 14 June.

Separate bus crashes and medical emergencies during the repatriation drive have killed people on the road home since May.

More than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated from South Africa since 14 June. Along the way, several people have died in bus crashes and medical emergencies on the road home.

One of them was Kassim Jaffati, a 47-year-old Malawian national. He collapsed on a bus about 15km outside the Musina Repatriation Centre, after complaining he felt unusually hot and removing his shirt. The bus turned back and he was declared dead on arrival. Police in Musina have opened an inquest.

Fifteen Malawians died when a bus crashed near the Nyamapanda border post in Zimbabwe on 5 May. Eight more died two days later in a crash near Louis Trichardt in Limpopo. On 30 June, a bus carrying 65 repatriated Malawians overturned near Beitbridge, killing the driver and injuring 11 passengers.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said 53,449 people had been processed for deportation or repatriation between 14 June and 11 July. More than 80% were Malawian nationals, with Zimbabweans and Mozambicans next.

Speaking in Pretoria on Sunday, she said South Africa has also returned 1,159 people to Nigeria, 939 to Uganda, 431 to Kenya and 86 to the Republic of Congo.

Malawi's Department of Disaster Management Affairs says about 30,000 Malawians had returned home by 6 July. Malawi's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, George Chaponda, told Parliament this is the worst crisis affecting Malawians in South Africa in years, and linked it to anti immigration protests and growing fear among undocumented migrants.

Many of those leaving did not have passports or valid travel documents. Embassies from Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique have been issuing emergency travel documents so people can get home.

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