WATCH | Malawian nationals wait patiently for buses to take them home
Throughout Wednesday, more people were seen walking towards the building carrying luggage, while others arrived in private vehicles, including e-hailing services, to join the hundreds already gathered there.
One hundred Malawian nationals sat patiently on a pavement opposite a disused building in Mayor’s Walk on Wednesday, their wrists marked with numbers from one to 100 as they waited for buses expected to transport them back to Malawi.
The group, carrying bags and personal belongings, formed a line across the road from the building where more than 1 000 Malawian nationals have gathered in recent days.
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Officials said those seated on the pavement had already completed processing and were awaiting transport.
A Malawian official, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said authorities were expecting up to 15 buses before the end of Wednesday to begin transporting those who had been processed.
The number of Malawians arriving at the site continues to grow daily.
Throughout Wednesday, more people were seen walking towards the building carrying luggage, while others arrived in private vehicles, including e-hailing services, to join the hundreds already gathered there.
Among those waiting was Jawadh Abudu, whose wrist bore the number 46.
Abudu said he had travelled from the Mkondeni informal settlement and believed returning home was safer than remaining in South Africa under constant fear.
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I arrived here on Monday, and we have been sleeping in the open since then. We have nowhere to go. We are just waiting for the arrival of the buses to board and leave straight for Malawi.
“The state of this building is terrible, and what’s scary is that there are also women with small children,” he said.
Concerns over conditions at the site have been raised by KwaZulu-Natal Public Works MEC Martin Meyer, who previously described the occupation of the building as a disaster waiting to happen.
His spokesperson, Steve Bhengu, said on Wednesday that Meyer maintained the building should be closed and that the co-ordination of the Malawian nationals gathered there was being handled through Premier Thami Ntuli’s office.
However, Premier spokesperson Lindelani Mbatha said responsibility for coordinating accommodation rested with Msunduzi Municipality Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla and the Department of Social Development.
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Meanwhile, Home Affairs KwaZulu-Natal manager Cyril Mncwabe said authorities had little control over the steady flow of Malawians continuing to arrive at gathering points across the province.
Speaking in Durban on Wednesday, Mncwabe said similar scenes were unfolding near the Drive-In precinct close to Moses Mabhida Stadium, where large numbers of Malawians continued to arrive and wait on pavements.
When we leave in the afternoon, we leave these people here on the pavements, but when we arrive in the morning, they have found their way into the fenced-off facility.
“We can’t really tell when this screening process will be finalised as more people keep arriving in private cars,” he said.
Mncwabe said the pace of the operation was also dependent on transport arrangements, adding that the Malawian government had not provided certainty on the number of buses it would send, although several NGOs had pledged buses to help speed up the process.
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Malawi’s high commissioner to South Africa, Stella Chiripo Ndau, said she would provide an update later in the day, but had not responded by the time of publication.
