By Burnett Munthali
The road from Lilongwe to Johannesburg remains busy even as danger grows sharper on the other side.
Over 600 Malawians are still travelling to South Africa every day despite ongoing xenophobic attacks in the country.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship disclosed the figure, warning that the continued movement exposes citizens to significant danger.
Spokesperson for Immigration Pasqually Zulu told Zodiak Online on Monday that while Malawians have the right to travel, the current conditions in South Africa make the journey unsafe.
“The situation is bad in South Africa,” Zulu said, citing the frequency and severity of recent attacks targeting foreign nationals.
He added that the Malawian government is spending substantial resources repatriating citizens who have been affected by the violence.
“We are pleading with Malawians to avoid travelling to South Africa now,” Zulu urged, stressing that safety must take priority over immediate economic opportunities.
The statement reflects growing concern within government about the cost and humanitarian burden of repeated repatriation operations.
Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Michael Kaiyatsa, described the persistent flow of travelers as “worrisome.”
Kaiyatsa said the trend points to the desperation many Malawians face in seeking employment and better livelihoods abroad.
He acknowledged the economic pressures driving the migration but cautioned that crossing into South Africa at this time is too risky.
The rights advocate appealed to Malawians to suspend travel to South Africa until the security situation stabilizes.
Both officials emphasized that the government’s capacity to repatriate citizens is being stretched by the scale of the crisis.
The warning comes as reports of anti-foreign national violence continue to emerge from parts of South Africa, particularly in informal settlements.
That warning finds its most visible test in Durban, where Sherwood Hall has become an improvised refuge for thousands fleeing sudden violence.
A severe sanitation crisis has emerged at Sherwood Hall in Durban, South Africa, where thousands of displaced foreign nationals have sought emergency refuge.
Local humanitarian updates confirm that the majority of those sheltering at the hall are Malawian citizens.
The crisis follows a sudden outbreak of anti-foreign national threats, intimidation, and targeted violence in nearby informal settlements.
Fleeing for safety, families left their homes with little more than what they could carry and made for Sherwood Hall as a temporary haven.
Independent reporting from IOL News confirms that only 10 mobile toilets have been set up on the grounds to serve the massive influx of people.
Media and humanitarian workers on the ground have issued urgent health warnings about extreme backlogs and worsening hygienic conditions.
While viral social media posts claim that over 4,000 people are sheltering at the hall, official estimates from journalists and agencies like SABC News place the number between 1,200 and 2,500 individuals.
Even at the lower end of that range, the ratio of 10 toilets for up to 2,500 people represents a critical humanitarian emergency.
The South African Department of Home Affairs and community volunteers have set up temporary processing centers inside the hall to manage registrations and basic aid.
Among those stranded are many women and young children, who face the greatest risk from the unsanitary conditions and exposure.
The displaced families are now appealing directly to both the Malawian and South African governments for emergency bus transportation.
Their request is to return home safely to Malawi, where they say they no longer feel secure staying in South Africa.
Aid workers warn that without immediate intervention, the risk of disease outbreaks and further deterioration of living conditions will rise rapidly.
The situation at Sherwood Hall underscores the vulnerability of migrant communities caught in surges of xenophobic violence.
Two hundred kilometers inland, Johannesburg tells a similar story of displacement and makeshift survival.
Following recent xenophobic attacks, many foreign nationals have been displaced from their homes and businesses, seeking refuge on Che Guevara Street outside the Home Affairs office after facing fear, intimidation and harassment.
After conducting an assessment and receiving urgent appeals for assistance, Gift of the Givers teams visited the site and found vulnerable individuals, including women, mothers and young children, sleeping outdoors in harsh winter conditions.
On 6 June 2026, our teams provided essential relief items, including mattresses, blankets and 5 litre bottles of water.
Earlier in the day, tea and sandwiches were distributed, followed by a nutritious lunch prepared by the Food Aid Foundation South Africa (FAFSA).
The assistance brought much-needed comfort and relief to those affected.
Many beneficiaries expressed heartfelt gratitude, offering prayers and words of appreciation, describing the intervention as a beacon of hope during a time of uncertainty and hardship.
Taken together, these three nodes—Blantyre’s warnings, Durban’s overcrowded hall, and Johannesburg’s street encampment—map a migration corridor under strain.
The persistence of daily crossings despite official alerts reveals a structural dilemma: Malawi’s labor market cannot absorb its young workforce, while South Africa’s informal economy remains the closest and most accessible outlet.
That economic pull collides with a political environment in South Africa where anti-foreign sentiment periodically erupts into organized intimidation and violence.
The result is a cycle in which Malawian citizens leave for survival, encounter insecurity, and depend on ad hoc repatriation and NGO relief for return and recovery.
International standards of protection for migrants place obligations on both host and origin states, but implementation lags behind the scale of movement.
South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has responded with temporary processing centers, yet the provision of basic sanitation and shelter at Sherwood Hall falls far below humanitarian norms.
Malawi’s government, for its part, faces a resource constraint that limits its ability to scale repatriation without diverting funds from other domestic priorities.
Human rights organizations inside Malawi argue that the crisis demands more than travel advisories—it requires bilateral diplomatic engagement to address the root causes of violence and to secure safer migration pathways.
The involvement of groups like Gift of the Givers and FAFSA illustrates the gap that civil society fills when state capacity is stretched thin.
Their interventions on Che Guevara Street provided immediate relief, but they also highlight how winter exposure and lack of shelter have become predictable features of this displacement.
At Sherwood Hall, the mismatch between 10 toilets and up to 2,500 people is not merely a logistical failure; it is a public health risk that could escalate into a regional concern if disease takes hold.
What emerges from the testimonies and data is a picture of migration driven by desperation, managed through improvisation, and mediated by the intermittent goodwill of NGOs.
For Malawi, the policy question is no longer only how to repatriate citizens safely, but how to reduce the push factors that make South Africa appear as the only viable option.
For South Africa, the challenge is to reconcile its constitutional commitment to human rights with the recurrent episodes of xenophobic mobilization that undermine it.
Until both governments address these structural pressures, the daily movement of Malawians will continue, and the images of families sleeping on Che Guevara Street or queuing for a single toilet in Durban will remain the human face of that policy gap.
The story of this exodus is therefore not just about borders crossed, but about the distance between constitutional promises and the lived reality of those who move in search of work, safety, and dignity.
The crisis at Sherwood Hall and Che Guevara Street teaches that migration policy without economic alternatives is a policy of managed desperation.
It shows that regional solidarity cannot rely on NGOs alone when states fail to meet their basic obligations to citizens and residents alike.
The lesson for Malawi is that sustainable repatriation begins at home, with investment in jobs, skills, and local enterprise that reduces the need to flee.
The lesson for South Africa is that constitutional rights mean little if the state cannot protect non-nationals from mob violence and provide humane conditions in emergencies.
Ultimately, the exodus will only slow when both governments treat migration as a shared responsibility rather than a problem to be outsourced to families and aid groups.
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