Malawi Migrants Return Empty-Handed After Fleeing South Africa

When Iweni Pachulu stepped off the bus at a soccer stadium in eastern Malawi, he fell to his knees and raised his hands in prayer. After a three-day journey with 60 others escaping a surge of anti-migrant protests in South Africa, he had finally returned home.

Next to him were the only possessions he had managed to bring after four years in the continent’s largest economy – a plastic bag and a backpack filled with clothes. The 26-year-old shop worker underwent a health screening and received transport money for Machinga, a village 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.

“I am going home literally with nothing. I don’t know how I will start over, but at least I am alive,” he shared. “The items I purchased in South Africa, hoping to send money home, were left behind. There was no time to gather everything. My priority was to save my life.”

Pachulu is among tens of thousands of Black Africans who have been forced out of South Africa – either deported or fleeing in fear – as waves of protesters marched through cities, some even going door-to-door demanding that migrants leave. They accuse foreigners of contributing to high unemployment and inadequate government services.

Read: More than 53,000 foreigners deported or repatriated in crackdown on illegal migration

The government has reacted to the protests by increasing enforcement against undocumented migrants, and while citizens are repeatedly warned not to take justice into their own hands, authorities have struggled to prevent outbreaks of violence and looting. At least four people have died.

South Africa, known for its large and diverse economy, has always attracted migrants from impoverished and conflict-affected nations.

Since 2000, Zimbabweans have streamed across the border, following a failed land reform that initiated a long-lasting economic crisis. In contrast, Malawi has some of the highest poverty rates in the world.

Although xenophobic tensions, primarily aimed at Black African migrants, surface every few years, the current protests have been more coordinated and sustained.

Waiters, drivers

Protesters argue that the government has not done enough to generate jobs in a nation where one in three people is unemployed, expressing discontent with the high number of undocumented migrants employed as waiters, delivery drivers, and in construction.

They have also raised concerns about overcrowded schools and strained public health clinics.

Organizations like March and March have set a self-imposed deadline of June 30 for all undocumented migrants to depart, culminating in nationwide protests on that day. Demonstrations have continued every Thursday, though on a smaller scale.

While the most recent census estimated that there were 2.4 million foreign-born individuals in the nation of 63 million, the government claims it lacks accurate figures on the undocumented migrant population, suggesting the numbers might be considerably higher.

Read: South Africa braces for anti-immigrant shutdown on June 30

Zimbabwe has reported that over 100,000 of its citizens have returned, while more than 53,000 Malawians have also left South Africa. Mozambique, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana have facilitated the repatriation of their nationals by bus or by plane.

Many of those returning had sent remittances back home, supporting people in countries with fewer job opportunities and widespread poverty.

On August 7, the European Union announced a donation of $345,000 in humanitarian aid “to assist in supporting the increased number of Zimbabwean returnees fleeing violence in South Africa” and a cholera outbreak.

In the first six months of this year, Zimbabweans working in South Africa remitted $420 million home, according to government statistics. The South African central bank reported that Malawians sent back around $128 million in 2024, although exchange controls mean that a considerable portion of this money flow remains unmonitored. Malawi’s government does not release statistics regarding remittances.

Read:
Things have changed for Zimbabweans in South Africa…
The UK is now the top source of remittances to Zimbabwe, surpassing South Africa

Shattered dreams

Now, many who have returned are left with the dilemma of either trying to return to South Africa or facing the grim prospects of making a living in their home country.

In Malawi, 47% of the approximately 22 million population lives below the government’s poverty line of 1,563 kwacha per day, which is less than a dollar at the official exchange rate and even less at the more widely used parallel-market rate.

“I was working as a domestic servant, sending money back home. My goal was to build a house,” Grace Magombo explained after disembarking from the bus, noting that she had left her vegetable-selling business in Malawi to join her husband in South Africa in early 2025.

“That plan has been demolished. I return with nothing, no house of my own. I have nowhere to begin,” lamented the mother of three boys.

Anti-immigrant sentiments have been on the rise in South Africa, and with critical local elections approaching in November, political factions such as Action SA, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, and the Patriotic Alliance have openly advocated for increased deportations.

The African National Congress, the principal political party in the country, has largely refrained from criticizing the protests.

In a national address, President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed empathy for the frustrations of the citizens. Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi commented that foreign workers are often exploited by unscrupulous employers while cautioning against vigilantism.

Addressing the issue late last month, she emphasized that some South Africans who looted the property of foreign investors have been apprehended.

Read: Fleeing migrants leave hard-to-fill gaps in South Africa’s struggling economy

“The government has never condoned citizens taking justice into their own hands,” stated Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

“We have consistently stated that the responsibility lies with Home Affairs,” he remarked, adding that incidents of violence are “very unfortunate.”

A study conducted in May by South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council indicated a marked increase in anti-migrant sentiments among nearly all but the wealthiest South Africans since the late 2010s.

In a survey conducted on August 5 by Afrobarometer, 32% of South Africans expressed a desire to keep foreign job seekers out of the country, placing South Africa second only to Madagascar in a study of 38 African nations.

Yet, while options in Malawi remain limited, many returnees are unlikely to seize the chance of returning to South Africa due to the rising hostility they face.

“I have wasted two years in South Africa. I will never return to that country,” declared Pichesi Pachulu, who traveled back on the bus with his brother Iweni. “South Africa is enriched with opportunities, but the people are difficult.”

Others, however, are less certain.

“If conditions improve, I might try my luck again. My boss in South Africa suggested that I leave for a while and return when things settle down,” said shop worker James Wahela, who has been transferring money back to his wife in a district near Malawi’s commercial capital, Blantyre.

“The truth is that South Africa offers more opportunities than Malawi. I believe I will return one day, for my family’s well-being.”

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