South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday he discussed with President Peter Mutharika on the need to safely repatriate about 10 000 Malawians stuck in the Rainbow Nation due to renewed waves of xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals.
On Tuesday, a journalist asked Ramaphosa if South Africa was in touch with Malawi to repatriate its citizens who are camping at Sherwood Park in Durban.
In response, the South African leader said he spoke to Mutharika, who said he understands the challenges and that Malawi would work with Pretoria to repatriate its people who are willing to return home.
Said Ramaphosa: “He said to me, we understand the challenge and the problems that you are facing.
“We are with you, we will support you and we will work with your government to enable those who want to leave and those who may be undocumented to leave peacefully. That is the commitment I gave him and I had a very good exchange with President Mutharika on the telephone.”
Presidential spokesperson Cathy Maulidi yesterday confirmed that the two leaders discussed the issue. She said: “Yes, I can confirm that His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika held discussions with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Ramaphosa’s statements accurately reflect their conversation.
“The two leaders continue to engage with each other on the issue.”
Meanwhile, Malawians sheltering at Sherwood Park in Durban clashed with police yesterday over a misunderstanding regarding the transfer of their colleagues, among other issues.
The Malawian nationals, many of them men, were refusing to be transported to Lindela Repatriation Centre in Johannesburg or move to the Durban beachfront.
South African media reported that public order police deployed tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets on a crowd of disgruntled Malawians to restore calm.
Lilongwe has already started repatriating the Malawians through buses.
