More than 70 Mozambicans taken back home
Mozambicans were kept safe at the DH Williams Hall. According to the Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson William Ntladi, two migrants fell sick and had to stay behind to be attended to by medical professionals.
After weeks of xenophobic attacks and looting, hundreds of foreign migrants were offered shelter by the municipality in Katlehong at the DH Williams and Tsolo halls.
On September 12, DH Williams closed and migrants who stayed there were transported to Mozambique.
Mozambicans were kept safe at the DH Williams Hall. According to the Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson William Ntladi, two migrants fell sick and had to stay behind to be attended to by medical professionals.
They are currently at the Tsolo Hall.
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Ntladi said, “There are 77 Malawians who are being processed by their embassy and will be repatriated back home as soon as their documents are in place.”
Kathorus MAIL spoke to a few migrants on September 15, who were still at Tsolo Hall.
Kia Shilombo (50), a Malawian citizen, said, “I came to South Africa in 2008. I came to this country looking for work. Jobs are scarce in Malawi. I take care of 14 children, that’s why I had to come look for a job here in order to be able to take care of them.
“The situation in this country was okay but now I don’t understand what’s going on.
“I used to stay in Mandela section and when things got bad, everything I had was torched, including my documents. That was when I came to this hall on September 2.
“The clothes I have now were donated to me.
“There were people who were burnt while they were inside their houses and salons.
“I don’t know how I’ll be able to go back to Malawi as I no longer have my documents.
“How will I live without my documents?”
Shilombo said should she be able to go back to Malawi, she hoped not to come back to South Africa.
Louisa Bernard Masinga (32) from Mozambique said, “I was supposed to have gone back home on September 11 but when I boarded the bus, I started vomiting so I had to be taken to hospital. I couldn’t go home then.
“My two children have, however, gone home on the buses which were organised for us. I’m currently waiting to get better so that I can go home.”
Poronki Poronki (55) said, “Life was difficult in Zimbabwe, so I came to South Africa because I needed a job.
“I came here to the Tsolo Hall on September 5 because of the violence which was in Mandela Zone Four.
“The residents of Mandela don’t have a problem. The people who started this violence are the people of Makalakalane and Molotha.
“I left my wife and two children, a nine-month-old girl and a five-year-old boy, in Mandela.
“I know they are safe as my wife is a South African.
“I don’t wish to go back to Mandela, even though I miss my family.”
Bina Deruch (22) from Malawi said, “I came to South Africa in March as my husband asked me to move with him.
“My husband has been here for two years. He is also from Malawi.
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“Whether these xenophobic attacks come to an end or not, we are going back to Malawi and I don’t think we will come back.”
Deruch said she used to work as a plastic collector and stopped working on September 2 when the violence started.
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