Mmamoloko Kubayi, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development (centre), is flanked by, from left, eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Njabulo Nzuza, Cassim Malani -World Memon Organisation, Abdul Valodia-Overport Ratepayers Association and eThekwini councillor Warren Burne. Officials inspected the Sherwood Park in Durban were displaced Malawians have gathered.
The Department of Home Affairs's National Immigration Branch is set to double its staff at Sherwood Park, Durban, to enhance support for displaced Malawians seeking assistance.
Approximately 4,000 Malawians seeking voluntary repatriation have converged on the park since Sunday. They arrived from across Durban and surrounding areas after receiving threats from anti-illegal immigration groups moving through suburbs, businesses and informal settlements demanding that undocumented migrants leave the country by June 30.
Immigration officials arrived on Wednesday and were manually recording Malawian nationals' details, noted as a long and tedious process.
On Thursday, they were moved to a room below the hall, where they had to endure the heat, the smell of rotting food from piles of rubbish, and dust from a pile of wooden planks dumped in bags nearby, which hindered access to the room. The planks are being used to make fires for cooking and to keep the displaced warm during the winter night.
