Government, in collaboration with South African authorities, has so far repatriated 22 074 Malawians fleeing anti-immigration violence in the Rainbow Nation.
Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) figures show that the returnees comprise 13 823 males and 8 251 females. The group also includes 1 659 children aged below five and 349 pregnant women while 6 830 people have received medical consultations.
So far, 319 buses have transported Malawians back home under the repatriation exercise coordinated by the two governments.
Dodma Commissioner Wilson Moleni said at a press briefing on Fday that more than 5 000 Malawians are still in South Africa awaiting repatriation.
He acknowledged that the operation would eventually have to end because of financial constraints, with more than K5 billion already spent.
“The availability of resources will determine the cutoff point because the amount of funds required is huge,” said Moleni.
Speaking during a media briefing monitored on South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) yesterday, Limpopo provincial head of Home Affairs Albert Motsaung said officials processed 3 416 people at the Musina repatriation camp on Saturday.
Of these, 3 074 were Malawians who travelled in 49 buses while 342 Zimbabweans were transported in four buses.
Motsaung said South African authorities expected to deploy another 60 buses on Sunday to continue repatriation of migrants to their home countries.
However, he could not say when the exercise would end because more people continued to arrive at the camp from different parts of South Africa.
The repatriation effort has also received support from the private sector and individual philanthropists. Contributors include FDH Bank, First Capital Bank, NBS Bank, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, the Gift of the Givers Foundation and philanthropist Thom Mpinganjira.
Author and social media influencer Onjezani Kenani has also mobilised resources that enabled 85 Malawians to return home last week while another 70 were travelling to Malawi on Sunday.
Malawians are among thousands of foreign nationals displaced by anti-immigrant operations that have intensified in recent weeks.
