JOHANNESBURG – Violent confrontations broke out Wednesday between police and hundreds of migrants waiting for repatriation outside a processing center in Durban, South Africa, bringing renewed attention to the simmering immigration tensions roiling the continent’s most economically developed nation.
Footage broadcast by local South African television networks captured protesters hurling rocks, wooden sticks and fallen logs at law enforcement officers stationed near the community processing hall. In response, police deployed stun grenades and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, marking one of the most visible flashpoints since a wave of anti-immigrant demonstrations and targeted attacks on foreign nationals began spreading across the country in recent weeks.
Most of the migrants gathered at the Durban site are Malawian citizens who first arrived at the facility more than seven days ago. They had come voluntarily to board government-arranged buses returning them to their home country, after rising anti-foreign violence left many feeling unsafe in South Africa. KwaZulu-Natal Premier, the top official for the province that contains Durban, confirmed that nearly 10,000 Malawian migrants have been camped in a nearby park while waiting for the repatriation process to move forward.
However, lengthy delays in organizing the departures prompted South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs to step in, setting up an on-site immigration court and launching formal deportation proceedings for the gathered migrants. Local media reports confirm the clashes were fueled by mounting frustration over the extended wait to return home, a journey many migrants began voluntarily to escape growing hostility.
To date, South African officials have confirmed that at least 1,876 of the migrants at the center have been verified as residing in the country without valid immigration documentation, and will be processed for formal deportation. Verification for remaining migrants is still ongoing, with Durban’s mayor estimating that more than 6,000 Malawian citizens could ultimately be deported from the country.
Malawi is not alone in arranging voluntary repatriation for its citizens in South Africa. It is one of at least five African nations that have organized trips to bring their residents home following reports of targeted threats and violent attacks on foreign nationals. Malawi has already successfully moved hundreds of its citizens back across the border via chartered buses, while Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have also arranged flights and buses to facilitate the exit of their citizens who wish to leave.
The South African national government has publicly condemned the recent string of attacks on foreign nationals, which have been ignited by a sharp surge in anti-immigrant sentiment among certain domestic political and community groups. For the past two years, the country has been engaged in a widespread crackdown on unauthorized immigration: Home Affairs data shows more than 100,000 people staying in the country illegally have been deported in that period, and an additional 500,000 people were turned away at the border before they could enter South Africa illegally.