By Rick Dzida
The conveyor belt of death bringing our brothers and sisters back from South Africa in body bags must be addressed by any means necessary!
Between January and June this year alone, a staggering 123 lifeless bodies of Malawian nationals were hauled back through the Mwanza Border Post. This is not a tragedy; it is a deliberate manslaughter.
The horrifying medical examinations revealed by Mwanza’s Director of Health Services, Dr Francis Makiya, expose a sickening truth: these are not peaceful deaths. These bodies are riddled with gunshot wounds, deep stab wounds, and trauma from unnatural accidents.
However, why are our people fleeing a peaceful Malawi? They are driven by absolute economic desperation, crushing poverty, and a lack of local opportunities. They migrate to South Africa in a desperate bid to survive, only to find an imminent death sentence awaiting them.
Let us think aloud; can the explosive crime landscape of South Africa be the cause? Absolutely! South Africa remains locked in a bloody security crisis, averaging a staggering 58 murders every single day.
Worse still, Malawians are not just caught in random crossfire—they are actively hunted. Ruthless xenophobic hostility, fuelled by populist movements like Operation Dudula and aggressive vigilante campaigns, systematically targets foreign nationals.
Documented or undocumented, it does not matter—migrants are being openly chased, assaulted, and murdered under the guise of citizens’ arrests while both South African government and Malawian government idly watch in silence.
This state of affairs cannot continue. The passive, indifferent stance of both governments makes them complicit in this slaughter.
We demand that the Malawian and South African governments immediately cooperate to form a joint, independent commission of inquiry.
Every single unnatural death must be investigated, and the perpetrators must be brought to justice!
Furthermore, establish an immediate bi-national police and medical taskforce between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Malawian authorities to investigate every repatriated body showing signs of violence.
In addition, the South African government must legally penalise vigilante groups like Operation Dudula or March and March , and set up secure emergency consular channels for foreign nationals facing immediate xenophobic threats.
Proactively, the Malawian government must aggressively invest in local job creation, youth empowerment, and rural development so that our citizens are never forced to choose between economic starvation at home or a violent death abroad.
