More than 1,000 Zimbabweans wait in the rain outside the Zimbabwean consulate in Cape Town on 28 June to be transported to a Home Affairs office before repatriation. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images) South Africa has repatriated or deported more than 53,000 foreign nationals over the past few weeks, as anti-foreigner sentiment spiked and xenophobic attacks sparked an exodus.
/file/attachments/2994/gumain_814698.jpeg "Thousands of immigrants were transferred to the new Musina Temporary Repatriation Centre. (Photo: Thembi Siaga)")
The vast majority of those deported or repatriated were Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans. As of Wednesday, 8 July, a total of 50,280 nationals from those three nations had returned to their country of origin, said Home Affairs spokesperson Thulani Mavuso.
In addition, the governments of Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya have flown about 3,000 of their nationals home over the last few months, according to official sources. That comprises 958 Ghanaians, 859 Nigerians, 730 Ugandans and “about 400” Kenyans.
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The total continues to rise due to ongoing repatriations and deportations, and would be even higher if it included foreigners who returned home on their own.
Home Affairs is still processing many Malawians, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans through the Temporary Repatriation Processing Centre (TRPC) at Musina. Nigeria’s foreign ministry said a fifth — and last — repatriation flight carrying about 270 nationals would leave SA this week. Kenyan officials said a final repatriation flight of about 50 would leave Johannesburg on Thursday, 9 July.
The Home Affairs director-general, Livhuwani Tommy Makhode, and Border Management Authority Commissioner Michael Masiapato briefed members of Parliament’s Home Affairs portfolio committee on Tuesday at the TRPC. The centre was set up near the Zimbabwean border to process mainly Malawian, Zimbabwean and Mozambican nationals for repatriation by road.
Mavuso said 50,280 Malawians, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans had returned home between 14 June and Wednesday, 8 July. That comprised mainly Malawians — 44,080 — plus 4,659 Zimbabweans and 1,541 Mozambicans. These were mostly voluntary repatriations but also included a few thousand involuntary deportations.
In a slide presentation to the MPs, Home Affairs added that more foreigners “were still undergoing the verification process for repatriation from the TRPC and elsewhere in the country. Repatriation processes are undertaken at the TRPC; however, the process starts at a point where foreign nationals assemble prior to transportation to the TRPC.”
Differing figures
Home Affairs said the Ghanaian government had repatriated 958 of its nationals in three flights, on 27 May, 6 and 7 June. It said the Nigerian government had repatriated 268 in a flight on 11 June.
However, this figure is incomplete as Nigerian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kimiebi Ebienfa told Daily Maverick this week that his government had repatriated 859 Nigerians, with another 270 expected to depart this week.
The acting Nigerian high commissioner to South Africa, Alexander Ajayi, told SABC this week that the flight this week would be the fifth and last.
/file/attachments/orphans/586-Nigerians-repatriated-from-SA-268-on-first-flight_631723.jpeg "Nigerian passengers who were repatriated from South Africa disembark from a chartered plane after landing at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, on 11 June. (Photo: Toyin Adedokun / AFP)")
The Zimbabwean government has also published figures that differ from those of Home Affairs, though the starting point of calculation might explain the difference. As of 5 July, it reported that a total of 73,678 migrants had returned to Zimbabwe from SA, of whom 54,630 self-repatriated while 19,048 were repatriated under the SA government’s repatriation programme.
The Mozambican government this week also issued slightly different figures, saying 1,363 Mozambicans had been repatriated.
The Ugandan High Commission in Pretoria posted on X that it had repatriated 730 Ugandans in three charter flights and on one scheduled flight.
The Kenyan government on Thursday said it had repatriated about 400 of its citizens and that the last flight was due to leave Johannesburg that day.
/file/attachments/orphans/6I1A6254_330090.jpg "Malawian nationals aboard a bus at the Durban Drive-In temporary repatriation centre on 1 July, as they prepare to depart for the journey back to Malawi. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)")
Adrian Roos, the DA Home Affairs spokesperson who attended the Musina briefing, noted that more than 87% of those repatriated voluntarily or deported through the TRPC were Malawians.
He said this was partly because many of the Malawians were in family units, whereas most of the Zimbabweans were men who had come to SA on their own. It may also have been because the Malawian government launched a large repatriation programme, though it was struggling to repatriate all of its nationals who wished to leave SA
Some humanitarian groups have raised concerns about conditions in the TRPC. But Roos claimed to Daily Maverick: “We had a special session with the NGOs and agencies such as the International Organization for Migration, and UNHCR, who all vouched for the humane nature in which the people are treated.” DM
Additional reporting by Victoria O’Regan.