‘Joburg is not where they want to be’: stranded Malawians finally get a bus home

More than 400 Malawian nationals housed at a Joburg church were repatriated on Monday evening, while at least 76 people remained in Johannesburg on Tuesday, waiting for the final bus to take them home.

The group were part of 500 Malawians who had been self-repatriating from Cape Town and Durban but were left stranded in Newlands, Johannesburg, after being promised transport back home.

Tension has been rising in the country after certain civil organisations gave illegal migrants until June 30 to voluntarily leave SA.

According to civil society activist Tessa Dooms, the crisis was eased after the department of home affairs intervened.

“Although the repatriation process is a Malawian government intervention, with Malawi paying for and managing the buses, the South African government stepped in after realising that people had been left stranded in Newlands,” said Dooms.

Dooms said the home affairs department coordinated and dispatched seven buses on Monday to send the Malawians back home.

“Over 400 people were taken to Malawi yesterday through the South African government’s intervention. There is now a final group of 76 waiting for the last bus, and we have been assured by home affairs that it will arrive. The crisis has largely been de-escalated,” she said.

She explained that the buses were travelling from Durban and Cape Town when they ended up at the Malawian embassy in Sandton, where passengers were told another bus would collect them and continue the journey.

“It remains unclear how some people ended up moving from the Malawian embassy to Jeppe and later to Newlands,” said Dooms.

She said members of the Malawian community stepped in after learning about the situation.

“One of the Malawian pastors offered his church in Newlands as temporary accommodation while efforts were being made to resolve the matter.”

Dooms emphasised that those on the buses had no intention of staying in Johannesburg.

“These are people who believed they were travelling straight to Malawi. They are voluntarily leaving South Africa and have no interest in relocating elsewhere. Johannesburg is not where they want to be; they want to return home to Malawi,” she said.

Sowetan