BLANTYRE, Malawi, April 15 (MaraviPost) _ The first batch of Malawians xenophobia victims are expected to be repatriated home from South Africa on Sunday, a Malawi government spokesman has disclosed.
Meanwhile, the Malawi government has called on continental and regional bodies to intervene in the worsening situation.
“According to latest official reports from the offices of the Malawian Consulate and High Commission to South Africa as of Tuesday 14th April 2015, about 420 Malawians were reported to be affected and are in temporary camps in South Africa,” Information Minister Kondwani Nankhumwa told a press conference in the commercial capital, Blantyre, Wednesday.
He nonetheless said the figure of Malawians who have been affected “is expected to rise.”
Nankhumwa said the Malawi government has set up two transit camps, one in Blantyre for victims from the Southern Region and another in the capital, Lilongwe, for victims from the Central and Northern Regions.
He said most of the victims have lost almost all their property, including travel documents, in the attacks. The Malawian Consulate and the High Commissioner’s office in South Africa, he said, were working hand in hand with the South African government in monitoring and assessing the situation on the ground.
“The Malawian Mission in South Africa is conducting the screening process which includes identification of individuals in order to fast track border-crossing as well as identification of an individual’s home of origin,” he said, adding:
“The Malawi Government is committed to ensuring the safe return of all Malawians who have been affected by the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.”
Nankhumwa, however, said the Malawi government was dismayed with the xenophobia attacks in South Africa and has since urged Pretoria to protect foreigners.
“This is unfortunate coming at a time we are working on regional integration. We urge the government of South Africa to protect foreigners,” he said.
The minister also called on continental and regional bodies to intervene.
“We urge (the Southern Africa Development Community) SADC and (the African Union) AU to intervene,” he said.
Nankhumwa said Lilongwe will be officially writing AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, herself South African, to intervene.
“President Peter Mutharika has directed Minister of Foreign Affairs George Chaponda to engage his counterpart in South Africa, the Hon. Maite Nkoana- Mashabane, on the matter and he will be travelling to South Africa soon for that purpose,” he disclosed.
Nankhumwa said officially, so far, only three Malawians have been reported to be seriously injured. However, some Malawians have been calling Maravi Post in Blantyre from South Africa making eye-witness accounts of Malawians being butchered before their own eyes.
“I witnessed a friend of mine Roderick Masanja from (the Malawi southern resort district of) Mangochi being doused by petrol and being set alight in Durban yesterday (Tuesday),” claimed a caller identifying himself as Samuel Idrissa, also from Mangochi.
Idrissa said he is based in Johannesburg but had travelled to the port city to try to rescue his friends.
Information Minister Nankhumwa told Maravi Post government, through the Malawi Mission and the Malawi High Commission in South Africa, will investigate the claims.
“But, officially, we have no confirmed deaths involving Malawians,” he insisted.
Many Malawian young men trek to South Africa in search of work.
Attacks on foreigners, mainly from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of the Congo, begun reportedly following remarks by King Goodwill Zwelithini of Kwazulu Natal that foreigners must pack up and go home. The influential traditional leader has since distanced himself from the remarks, saying they were ‘mis-translated’.
Nonetheless South African Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba roundly condemned traditional leaders to ‘mind their language’.-MaraviPost
