Photo credit: NZ Herald
South African police deployed to head off unrest and protests today, the unofficial deadline set by citizen-led groups for undocumented foreign nationals to leave has already pushed thousands to flee.
NewstalkZB reports that officers were out to prevent violence and looting, while hundreds of foreign nationals took refuge in several cities, urgently seeking help to leave.
At least two Mozambicans, an Ethiopian and a Malawian have been killed in anti-immigrant violence over recent weeks and several African governments have organized planes or buses to repatriate their citizens.
“I decided to go to avoid being attacked,” Malawian Peter Madsoan said. He was among several thousand gathered in the port of Durban on Monday waiting for a bus to take him home.
“I am a breadwinner back at home in Malawi,” the builder said. “It is better for me to go than to die in South Africa.”
The Border Management Authority told AFP that about 25,000 people had been repatriated in recent weeks.
Around 15,000 Malawians had been processed for departure, South African officials said last week, while thousands more from Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and other countries had already left.
Uganda announced at the weekend an “evacuation plan” to start in the coming days for nearly 750 of its citizens.
As today’s unauthorized deadline arrived, thousands of people, mostly Malawians and Zimbabweans, also gathered in Cape Town and Johannesburg, waiting for assistance to go home.
Some said their landlords had evicted them or their employers had fired them, fearing fines from officials or attacks by vigilante groups.
In Johannesburg, men in Zulu attire and holding shields and sticks paraded through the Soweto township, chanting “Abahambe”, which means “Let them go”.
