Migrants wave to people their goodbyes as the first of seven buses leave the Sherwood Park in Durban on June 14, 2026. (Photo by RAJESH JANTILAL / AFP)
Johannesburg: South Africa has repatriated 2,745 foreigners in the week after President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed tougher action against illegal immigration, the country's home affairs minister said on Sunday.
One of Africa's largest economies, South Africa has long attracted migrant workers from across the continent, both legally and illegally.
But saddled with an unemployment rate above 30 percent, it has experienced recurring spurts of anti-immigrant unrest, including fresh violence in recent weeks.
Mobs of South Africans carrying sticks, whips and shields have marched through parts of the country ordering foreigners with no residency papers to leave by June 30.
Growing security fears after businesses were looted and foreigners targeted have prompted citizens of Nigeria, Malawi, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to accept voluntary repatriation organised by their governments.
"As of last night, the number we can report is 2,745 repatriations that have come in this period since the president spoke," Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber told reporters.
"It is a moving target," he said.
The government said most of those repatriated were in the country illegally.
They include Malawian nationals, about 7,000 of whom have been sheltering in an open field in the eastern port city of Durban, according to an inter-ministerial migration committee set up after the president's address.
Eight buses commissioned by the Malawian government began moving its citizens on Sunday, with South Africa providing 10 additional buses to speed up deportations, the committee said.
Among those boarding the first buses, some carried babies on their backs and small bags of belongings.
"I'm relieved we are finally leaving. It's better than living in fear here," said Fortunate Chilenje from Blantyre, Malawi's commercial capital.
The 25-year-old had lived in South Africa for three years, she told AFP, adding that threats to leave had followed her even at the camp, one of the largest to emerge since the unrest began.
