The voluntary repatriation exercise
* According to SA Home Affairs, as of August 6, 2026, at least 82,875 foreign nationals had been processed at repatriation centres
* The repatriations that the department of Home Affairs undertook were not budgeted for
By Duncan Mlanjira
South Africa’s government is reported to have written to the governments of Malawi, Nigeria and Ethiopia requesting that they reimburse the repatriation costs for their citizens when they fled xenophobic attacks since April this year.
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A report by online media platform, The Citizen indicates that Department of Home Affairs confirmed it has written to the three governments.
The report quotes the Home Affairs’ director-general Tommy Makhode saying the repatriations were not budgeted, indicating that the department spent R292 million for the exercise.
The largest amount, according to the Home Affairs, was spent on the buses that were procured to transport people to repatriation centres within the country.
The Citizen reports that in June, several countries started repatriating their citizens from South Africa after the anti-illegal immigrant protests flared up again in the country.
The organisers of the protests gave undocumented foreign nationals a deadline of June 30 to leave the country, failing which they have threatened a national shutdown.
Countries affected moved in to repatriate their citizens, including Malawi, which asked for support from the South African government. According to The Citizen — quoting the Home Affairs, as of August 6, 2026, at least 82,875 foreign nationals had been processed at the repatriation centres.
The figure excludes those repatriated before June 30 and those processed by the Border Management Authority (BMA).
The department is also quoted that it had deported 44,607 foreign nationals from the Lindela repatriation centre in the previous financial year.
Between April 20 and July 28 this year, 16,078 foreign nationals were deported. Malawians were the majority of those deported in the previous and current financial years, followed by Zimbabweans (13,479 previous vs 4,095 current), Mozambicans (12,354 vs 4,034) and Basotho (3,494 vs 931).
“We have also written to the government of Malawi and, of course, the embassies of Nigeria and Ethiopia requesting reimbursements of this cost through the department of Dirco, and we are anticipating responses from those governments,” Makhode is quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Malawi’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) reports that it after repatriating 56,723, it will close the voluntary this week.
The Nation newspaper quotes DoDMA that returnees, comprising 38,866 men and 17,857 women, arrived through Mwanza border post as of Friday — that included 3,988 children under-5 and 694 expectant mothers. Seven deaths were recorded during the exercise.
DoDMA Commissioner Wilson Moleni is quoted as saying the last buses under the government-funded programme will depart from the Malawi Consulate in Johannesburg and the Malawi High Commission in Pretoria at noon on Wednesday, after which the reception centre in Mwanza will be decommissioned.
“Following the conclusion of the government-funded Voluntary Repatriation Programme, Malawian nationals who wish to return home will be required to make their own travel arrangements,” Moleni said.
The High Commission and Consulate will, however, continue providing consular services, including emergency travel documents.
For many returnees, reintegration poses fresh challenges after they abandoned jobs and businesses in South Africa.—Additional reporting by The Nation
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