29 June 2026
People line up to board buses to Musina. Photos: Joseph Bracken
The eThekwini Municipality said on Monday that about 7,000 displaced immigrants have been moved from the old Drive-In temporary repatriation site in Durban to a new facility in Musina, Limpopo.
Addressing the media at 11.30am on Monday morning, Lindokuhle Mkhize, the municipality’s chief operating officer, said that as of 6am on Monday, 58 buses had departed for Limpopo. Another ten had left since then, and another 70 were expected to leave during the day.
The temporary repatriation site was set up last Monday as tens of thousands of people, mainly Malawian immigrants, left their homes and jobs amid rising levels of anti-immigrant sentiment.
The displaced immigrants, many of whom are undocumented, have had to be screened by police to identify people wanted for crimes, and then processed for repatriation by the Department of Home Affairs.
Those found to be in the country illegally had to be issued with notices that they may not return to South Africa within five years. Many did not have travel documents, and the Mozambique High Commission has had to issue group passport documents.
The government decided on Friday that the temporary repatriation site would be closed as hundreds of people kept streaming to the site.
Despite the municipality urging people not to direct immigrants to the site, hundreds of people were standing outside the gates on Monday morning, waiting to be let in. More people were arriving in private vehicles and e-hailing cars. Mkhize said that there were still about 300 people waiting outside the gates.
About 300 people were waiting outside the old Drive-In site on Monday morning.
