The Musina Temporary Repatriation Processing Centre: Once a critical hub for managing migration in South Africa.
South Africa has officially decommissioned the Musina Temporary Repatriation Processing Centre, marking the end of a critical emergency intervention that processed more than 48 000 migrants.
On June 26, the government established the repatriation processing centre as a temporary intervention to manage increased migration pressures and facilitate lawful, orderly and dignified processing of undocumented migrants needing assisted repatriation.
This was in response to rising tensions amid calls for undocumented migrants to leave the country by June 30, leading to a humanitarian crisis in various parts of the country. Thousands of undocumented Malawian migrants sought refuge at Sherwood Hall in Sydenham in June, before being transferred to the Durban Drive-In Site for repatriation. Similar scenes of fleeing migrants unfolded in other parts of the country like the Western Cape and Gauteng.
“Government has closed operations at the Musina Temporary Repatriation Processing Centre near the Beitbridge Port of Entry in Limpopo,” said deputy government spokesperson William Baloyi.
