Hundreds of Malawians queuing for buses in Durban

Hundreds of Malawians wait to board buses home at the repatriation site in the Old Drive-in in Durban on Wednesday. Photos: Joseph Bracken

• About 22 buses were expected to depart from the repatriation site in the Old Drive-in, in Durban on Wednesday.
• Hundreds of Malawians were lined up outside the site waiting to be let in to get a bus home.

• Cyril Mncwabe, KwaZulu-Natal manager for the Department of Home Affairs says it’s unclear whether everyone at the site will have been helped by 30 June, when anti-immigration organisation March and March plans nationwide protests.

Hundreds of people queued at the gates of the Old Drive-in site in Durban on Wednesday, waiting to get on buses to return to Malawi.

By 2:30pm, eight buses had already left for Malawi, said Cyril Mncwabe, KwaZulu-Natal manager for the Department of Home Affairs, at a media briefing on the site. A total of 22 buses were expected to leave by the end of Wednesday.

Home Affairs could not say with certainty whether everyone at the site would be assisted by 30 June, said Mncwabe. He said more people arrived daily.

Those waiting outside would only be admitted once space becomes available, said Mncwabe.

When GroundUp visited the site on Wednesday, at least 200 people were standing outside the gates. This number continued to grow as people were dropped off by private vehicles and e-hailing drivers.

Mncwabe said there would be a higher security presence at the site on 30 June, when March and March plans nationwide protests. In other respects, “June 30 will be treated like any other day,” he said.

Since the repatriation effort began, over 10,000 people have been processed and have left the country, Mncwabe said.

Kasembe Adini, a Malawian national who had been processed and was waiting to board a bus, told GroundUp he is happy to be returning home, hough Malawi faces serious challenges.

“When I arrived in South Africa, I started a small business selling perfume. I would make between R500 and R700 a week, depending on the sales I made,” he said.

Hundreds of Malawian nations wait to be processed in order to board one of the buses back to their country of origin.

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