Officials from the Department of Home Affairs record the details of displaced Malawian residents that have gathered at the Sherwood Hall park in Durban.
“We are safer in Malawi,” was the common answer from Malawian residents who fled informal settlements and homes in Durban after anti-illegal immigration protests intensified.
Malawian nationals fled from wherever they were renting after receiving death threats and temporarily settled on the playground at Sherwood Hall on Sunday, with the numbers swelling to approximately 2,500 by Wednesday. Concern is mounting across South Africa over the deadline set by anti-illegal immigration groups, the Insizwa Ngobunsizwa Development Foundation and March for March, for undocumented migrants to leave the country by June 30, 2026.
On Wednesday, migration officers from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) began processing the Malawian nationals outside the hall. Warren Burne, eThekwini ward 30 DA councillor, said DHA officials are manually recording each person's individual data, including their family in Malawi, personal details, health records and which clinics or doctors they used in Durban.
Other questions on the five-page sheet included how the person entered South Africa, the point of entry and the type of work they did.
