Kimberly Mutandiro – Johannesburg
African migrants are saying goodbye to South Africa and going back home. Countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi have repatriated some citizens home.
Other migrants are self-repatriating, while many others are still trying to find a way to go back home. The decision by migrants to return home comes amid ongoing anti-migrant tensions currently boiling in the country.
In recent months, “March and March,” the new kid on the block in South Africa’s anti-migrant campaigns, took South Africa by storm. The group’s anti-migrant marches have become a reality in the country’s cities and townships.
Many migrants have accepted the call to return home as a safer option. “March and March” and its allies have set a deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave South Africa by 30 June.
Xenophobic violence is at its peak. To many African migrants coming from countries with political and economic instability, refugees fleeing from war, persecution, and human rights violations, South Africa seemed like the ultimate paradise.
In April, with sticks, arrows, and shields in hand, over 1,000 March and March members marched across Durban in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province. They demanded all undocumented foreign nationals to leave country and go back home.
The group was founded as a civil society movement by radio personality Jacinta Zuma. March and March has many similarities to sister anti-migrant movement Operation Dudula. Its main aim is to mobilize protests calling for stricter enforcement of immigration laws in South Africa and for prioritization of jobs and services for citizens in the country.
The group has attracted the attention of anti-migrant groups in South Africa, and its anti-migrant protests have spread to main provinces like Gauteng and Cape Town.
At the Netown Bus Terminus in Johannesburg, many passengers are seen boarding buses every day. But of late, many say they are escaping from xenophobic attacks that have become rife in the country’s townships and cities. Others are trying to leave before the 30 June deadline set by March and March.
But with groups such as March and March, intensifying protests and posing threats, going back to their countries of origin has become the only option.
African migrants are calling on governments whose citizens are currently stranded due to xenophobic threats, card attacks in the country to mobilize enough resources to ensure that everyone returns home safely.
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