PIETERMARITZBURG – On Tuesday, the South African police announced they are investigating the death of a foreign national in Pietermaritzburg, a southeastern town where hundreds of Malawians gathered to be repatriated amid concerns over xenophobic violence.

South Africa, one of the continent’s largest economies, has been on edge following weeks of sometimes violent protests against undocumented migrants that have left at least two foreign nationals dead.

A 29-year-old Malawian was attacked and died after a protest in Pietermaritzburg on Friday, a local councillor told AFP.

“His family identified him; he is a Malawian national,” said councillor Suraya Reddy.

Police, however, said they could not give the man’s nationality until “authorities from his own country” had been informed.

Tensions have been rising after small citizen-led groups issued an unofficial demand for undocumented migrants, whom they accuse of taking jobs and resources from locals, to leave South Africa by 30 June.

The police said two people from Mozambique were killed late last month “during activities associated with anti-foreigner demonstrations” in the southern town of Mossel Bay. The ultimatum for undocumented foreign nationals to leave has no legal backing but has already led thousands of people from other African nations, including Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi and Mozambique, to flee.

More arriving, leaving

The Malawian government also said it was investigating reports that one of its citizens had been killed.

South African police said a mob had attacked the man who escaped but then “slipped into the river”.

“He was found on the riverbend with a cut on the head and injuries on the mouth,” a police statement said, adding they were treating it as murder but were investigating the circumstances. Hundreds of Malawians have gathered at a centre in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal province, to request repatriation, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

Several hundred Malawians and other foreign nationals were camping out in the port city of Durban, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, waiting for repatriation.

More arrived on Tuesday in e-hailing vehicles, taxis, and vans, including women and young children carrying large bags and other belongings they could salvage.

Malawi’s government has repatriated about 3 000 of its nationals, and others have returned home on their own, disaster authority commissioner Wilson Moleni told AFP.

Forty buses provided by the South African government were en route, carrying about 2 000 people, he said.

Authorities were concerned about an apparent surge in the number of people seeking assistance as 30 June approached, Moleni said, with people still arriving at sites in Durban.

“We are all Africans, and from time to time we will need each other,” said Adam Ali, a leader of the displaced Malawian community in Durban.“You guys have said you don’t want foreigners here, and people are leaving voluntarily; they want to go home,” he told AFP.

“But why attack them, why kill them if they are willing to leave?”

Heightened security

Police said they will boost deployments nationwide ahead of the 30 June deadline, when groups wanting illegal migrants to leave have vowed to take to the streets.

They want to prevent a repeat of July 2021 unrest when more than 300 people lost their lives after former president Jacob Zuma was briefly imprisoned.

The latest tensions come ahead of local government elections scheduled for 4 November. Past flare-ups of violence targeting undocumented foreign nationals have been deadly, with 62 people killed in riots in 2008.

Violence in 2019 saw armed mobs descend on foreign-owned businesses around Johannesburg, leaving at least 12 people dead, 10 of them South African citizens.

On Tuesday, acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told reporters: “We are not going to tolerate lawlessness. We’re not going to tolerate any efforts to destroy our infrastructure.”

–Nampa/AFP

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