South Africa says 2,745 illegal immigrants sent home in week

South Africa repatriated 2,745 foreigners in a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa promised to crack down on illegal immigration, the country’s interior minister said on Sunday.

One of Africa’s largest economies, South Africa it has long attracted migrant workers from across the continent, both legally and illegally.

But with an unemployment rate above 30 percent, it has seen repeated waves of anti-immigrant unrest in recent weeks, including renewed violence.

Crowds of South Africans with sticks, whips and shields marched through parts of the country, ordering foreigners without residence permits to leave by 30 June.

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Growing security concerns after businesses were looted and targeted by foreigners prompted citizens of Nigeria, Malawi, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to accept voluntary repatriation organized by their governments.

“As of last night, we can report the number of 2,745 repatriations that have come in the period since the president spoke,” Interior Secretary Leon Schreiber told reporters.

“It’s a moving target,” he said.

The government said most of those repatriated were in the country illegally.

They include Malawians, about 7,000 of whom are sheltering in an open field in the eastern port city of Durban, according to an inter-ministerial committee on migration set up after the president’s speech.

Eight buses commissioned by the Malawian government began moving its citizens on Sunday, with South Africa providing 10 more buses to expedite deportations, the committee said.

About 560 people, including about 200 children, made the trip on Sunday, Malawi Consul General Max Biwi said.

Among those who boarded the first buses, some carried babies and small bags of belongings on their backs.

“I’m relieved we’re finally leaving. It’s better than living here in fear,” said Fortunate Chilenje from Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial capital.

The 25-year-old had lived in South Africa for three years, she told AFP, adding that threats to leave haunted her even in the camp, one of the largest to emerge since the unrest began.

Voltage

The government said on Sunday that it does not operate refugee camps and has no intention of setting them up, even temporarily.

Another passenger, Laina Nala from Mangochi in southern Malawi, said she simply wanted to be dropped off as close to her home as possible rather than continue to Blantyre.

“Blantyre is too far and expensive from there,” she said.

Hassan Hash (27) still had the debt associated with his trip to South Africa hanging over his head.

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He said he had barely been in South Africa for a few weeks before anti-foreigner sentiment flared, but added: “I’m resigned to coming home.”

Last week, Ramaphosa acknowledged public concerns about illegal immigration but warned that authorities would not tolerate anyone taking the law into their own hands.

Tensions escalated after two Mozambicans were killed on May 29 following a march against illegal migrants in the Western Cape town of Mossel Bay. Mozambican authorities put the death toll at five.

More than three million foreigners live in South Africa, which is 5.1 percent of the population, according to the statistics office.