Overview
- Malawian authorities and partners began boarding buses at Durban’s Sherwood Hall on Monday as the first phase of a voluntary repatriation operation.
- The Malawi government confirmed 645 returnees left South Africa on eight buses that departed on Monday and are due to enter via the Mwanza Border Post.
- South African Home Affairs officials say about 1,000 people sheltering outside Sherwood Hall were processed on site and found to lack valid documentation.
- Reception arrangements are in place at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre where returnees will be screened, receive temporary shelter and food, and get onward transport to home areas.
- Humanitarian groups such as Gift of the Givers are providing winter relief at the Durban site while Malawi’s Department of Disaster Management has appealed for donations and logistics to scale up evacuations and care.