‘If I die, let it be here’: Malawians flee riots in South Africa | Story

Luchenza, Malawi – When Janet Kapito left the village of Lolo for South Africa in 2022, she hoped to save money to buy land and build a house in her home country of Malawi.

Instead, the 27-year-old mother of three has returned with her eight-month-old son and little else after fleeing violence against foreigners. Even the few goods they were able to carry were stolen from one bus carrying Malawians home before the June 30 deadline.

“I was staying at home when the protests started and I couldn’t work,” Kapito told Al Jazeera.

Standing next to the unfinished foundation of the house he hopes to build with his earnings, Kapito said he earns 2,000 rand a month working in a Nigerian restaurant.

He spoke in a low, unintelligible voice. He said that the dust that had come out of the bush where he had fled during the terrorist attacks had disturbed his throat.

Her Malawian husband whom she met in South Africa is on his way back home.

With no money, Kapito received 70,000 Malawi kwacha (about $40) when he arrived at Kamuzu Stadium, where the returnees are being prepared before going to their communities.

Running away with nothing

The government of Malawi is helping to bring back thousands of its citizens, many of whom have worked in the informal sector in South Africa for years. Well-wishers have also raised funds to help Malawians who missed buses to return home.

Local media say 6,936 Malawians have returned home since the repatriation process began.

In an earlier statement, Malawi’s disaster management department said that about 10,000 Malawians in South Africa were in trouble and said it had put in place a “comprehensive response plan” to ensure that those affected return home safely, orderly and with dignity.

Officials in South Africa say that 15,162 Malawian citizens are currently scheduled to be returned to their country.

Many of the returnees told Al Jazeera that they borrowed money at high interest rates to travel to South Africa and are still struggling to repay the loans after the COVID-19 lockdown disrupted their lives. They have described fleeing with nothing and hiding in a courtyard in Durban as violence by foreigners escalated.

Return the problem

For Thokozani Mphola, 33, from Lomola in Thyolo district, leaving South Africa became a matter of survival.

“I said if I’m going to die, let me die at home,” Mphola told Al Jazeera shortly after arriving home, where neighbors and friends hugged him outside his mother’s house in Luchenza.

Mphola moved to South Africa in 2024 and found a job at a small factory packing roasted peanuts.

“Surviving in South Africa is very difficult, but I was able to buy food, pay rent and send money to my mother to take care of my children,” she said. “When I received my last salary, I used the money to pay for my trip home.”

He said he saw foreigners being beaten in the streets and had no intention of returning, even after the protests.

He said: “I came back with only a few clothes, but I’m happy to be home. I wanted to build a house here, but it’s not possible now, I’ll start a small business when I get money.”

Increasing conflict with returnees

Malawian sources in South Africa told Al Jazeera that election times are often hostile to outsiders.

Some returnees refused to speak to the media. Deportation from South Africa to Malawi, where unemployment is still high, is seen as shameful, and many struggle to return home. But the recent violence means that Malawi is expected to receive more citizens in the coming weeks.

Among the first people to return was Idrissah Akilemu, a father of two in his 30s, who was welcomed by government officials when he arrived in Malawi.

He said his house in Johannesburg was burnt down by the nightly protests targeting foreigners.

“I realized that this was a war, not a protest, because protests happen during the day. These people were attacking us at night,” Akilemu told reporters when he arrived in Malawi. “I’m happy to be here. I never thought I’d live.”

He hopes to earn enough money to start a small business after losing everything he had. Even the clothes in his bag were donated by well-wishers as he hid in a public hall awaiting deportation.

“We understand that it is their country, but let’s face it now,” Akilemu said. We have come back like babies because everything we worked for was stolen or burned.