‘If I am to die, let it be here’: Malawians fleeing unrest in South Africa
Key takeaways
- A mass return of Malawians from South Africa exposes the cost of migration, violence and broken livelihoods.
- Instead, the 27-year-old mother of three has returned with her eight-month-old baby and little else after fleeing anti-foreigner violence.
- “I was staying indoors after the protests started and I could not work,” Kapito told Al Jazeera.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
A mass return of Malawians from South Africa exposes the cost of migration, violence and broken livelihoods.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Malawi migrants to South Africa wait for supplies in an informal refugee camp in Durban [File:EPA]By Charles Pensulo Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026Luchenza, Malawi – When Janet Kapito left Lolo village for South Africa in 2022, she hoped to save enough money to buy land and build a house back home in Malawi.
Instead, the 27-year-old mother of three has returned with her eight-month-old baby and little else after fleeing anti-foreigner violence. Even the few belongings she managed to carry were stolen aboard one of the buses ferrying Malawians home ahead of the June 30 deadline.