LOOK | Fear grips Cape Town Zimbabweans ahead of protests

Hundreds of Zimbabwean nationals have gathered outside their country's Consulate in Cape Town

Hundreds of Zimbabwean nationals have gathered outside their country's Consulate in Cape Town, hoping for assistance to return home as fears over their safety continue to mount.

This comes as South Africa braces for tense anti-illegal immigration protests on June 30 across the country, with police warning those planning to participate to behave and to adhere to the law.

Authorities have urged restraint and caution, saying any form of violence, intimidation, or disruption will not be tolerated, as security forces prepare to monitor developments closely.

South Africa braces for tense anti-illegal immigration protests

However, those assurances have done little to ease growing anxiety among foreign nationals. Weston Hussein Willie, chairperson of Zimbabweans in Cape Town, says people have been arriving from different areas across the Western Cape, driven by fear for their lives.

“What is happening here? You can see people who are coming from different areas in the Western Cape. People are fearing for their lives, and they have decided to come here to the consulate for safety, and this is the only place they could find,” he said.

He added that many of those gathered are now being processed as they seek assistance to return to Zimbabwe, in what he describes as a deeply distressing moment for affected families.

"The people are now being processed there. South African immigration and Zimbabwean immigration are working together as counterparts so they can process these people before they leave in the evening.

Assurances have done little to ease growing anxiety among foreign nationals

“Apparently, what is happening is that there are also local buses that are coming to collect people, but since they do not have permits to cross the border, they drop them off at the departure point. Only buses that have permission to cross the border are allowed to continue and transport people through to their destination.”

IOL  also previously   reported that eThekwini Municipality has also announced that Malawian nationals currently housed at the Durban Drive-in temporary repatriation site will be moved to a new facility in Musina, Limpopo.

This comes after the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration took a decision on June 26 to relocate all processing of Malawian nationals from the Durban drive-in temporary repatriation site in eThekwini to a newly established temporary repatriation processing centre in Musina, Limpopo.