GROUNDUP: Chaos in KZN as immigrants rush to pop-up repatriation sites
<p>As chaos unfolds in KZN, hundreds of migrants arrive at makeshift repatriation sites, seeking safety and assistance after fleeing violence in their communities.</p>
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<p>As the government scrambles to process, verify and deport or repatriate thousands of displaced immigrants in Durban, dozens more people are arriving, hoping to be transported back to Malawi.</p>
<p>Thousands of people are staying in tents at the Old Drive-In site, where a <a href="https://groundup.org.za/article/more-than-7000-malawians-in-durban-have-been-sent-back-says-leon-schreiber/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">temporary facility</a> has been set up to repatriate immigrants who have been evicted from their homes, lost their jobs or fled violent threats.</p>
<p>The facility has been at full capacity, so new arrivals have had to sleep outside. Some who had arrived on Sunday have spent two nights sleeping outside without access to water, toilets or food.</p>
<p>On Tuesday morning, scores of people were sitting outside the gates as more people were being dropped off by minibus taxis.</p>
<p>At 6pm, the women and children outside were finally allowed into the facility and were escorted by police.</p>
<p>Rose Jesinao said she travelled from the Eastern Cape, where she was working as a domestic worker for R2,500 a month, after hearing that Malawians were being repatriated.</p>
<p>“I spent the night outside with no place to relieve myself,” said Jesinao.</p>
<p>Musa Saide said he arrived in South Africa and did not have documents. He was working at a hardware store in Harding, earning R600 a week. He has two children who he is leaving behind with their South African mother, because they don’t have travel documents, he said.</p>
