More than 100 Malawian nationals camped outside their embassy in Pretoria are appealing to both the South African (SA) and Malawian governments to help them get back home.
The group has been living on the sidewalk in brutal conditions for over a week, completely cut off from basic sanitation and running water. Among them is 24-year-old Majidu Moffat, who came to SA a year ago looking for work. But after his passport expired, and with the anxiety around tightening immigration crackdowns growing, he decided it was time to leave.
While locals have been stepping in to keep everyone fed, Moffat says the freezing nights, lack of running water, and constant run-ins with law enforcement are becoming too much to handle.
“We can’t complain about food, the food is there, people are giving us food,” Moffat said. “As for now, we need the buses because we are struggling here. We are getting cold, we can’t bath, there’s no water. We just want to go home so we can bath, but we need the buses to get here as soon as possible. When we stay in the streets, the police come and chase us away. They tell us, ‘No, you can’t stay here, you are a foreigner, you are supposed to go home.’ So, we really just need a bus to come here right away.”
–ChannelAfrica–
