Fear has driven hundreds of undocumented foreign nationals across the Eastern Cape into hiding as community-led anti-illegal immigration campaigns gather momentum.
Across KuGompo City, families are sleeping in secret, workers have abandoned their jobs and parents have pulled children out of school, fearing they could become the next targets of community raids.
Others have spent their last savings on bus tickets, hoping to return to the countries they once left in search of a better life.
Over the weekend, dozens of Zimbabwean nationals stood for hours in freezing rain outside a shop near KuGompo City’s library, waiting for buses that would take them home.
Unable to secure assistance from either the Zimbabwean or SA governments, many said they each paid R1,800 for the journey.
Some described leaving behind jobs, homes and years spent building lives in SA. Others said they no longer believed it was safe to remain here.
A Zimbabwean mother said discrimination at her five-year-old daughter’s school had convinced her it was time to leave.
“My child is asking me questions and she is no longer happy like she used to be. At school other children called her ’gweja’ and ’kwerekwere’. I’m going home to be with my family.”
Another Zimbabwean, who has lived in SA for three years, said fear had replaced hope.
“I still have family back home and I am no longer safe here. Many people are stranded without a plan.”
Among those now in hiding is a 27-year-old Malawian mother of two who had worked on a farm outside the city for the past three years before losing her job after her employer cited concerns over the growing tensions.
Now sheltering with a SA colleague after spending two days in hiding, she said she was waiting for her final wages so she could send money to her sick mother before trying to find a way home.
“We are all stuck here. Only a few people can afford bus fares,” she said.
“I don’t have UIF or anything. I’m waiting for my final wages so I can send the money home because my mother has fallen ill worrying about our safety.”
Her greatest concern, however, is for her two primary school children.
“They have stopped going to school because they are scared.
“They hear people talking about ’illegal foreigners’. I just want to protect them because they are still very young.
“I wish I could get help to go home, but I don’t know where to get it.” The woman said her brother had also lost his farm job and returned to Malawi two weeks ago. Since then, the family had lost contact with him.
“I don’t know where my brother is.
“My mother knows he is missing and she became very sick because she is worried.
“All the money I receive, I will send home so she can get medical treatment and also to pay the people who lent my brother money to travel to SA. “Now we don’t know where he is because he disappeared once he arrived in Malawi.”
The SA woman sheltering her said she could not turn her back on someone she had worked alongside for years.
“These people have never given us problems after all the years we’ve worked together,” she said.
“We have built a bond and I couldn’t watch her suffer.
“Even now she stays inside the house because she is afraid someone will see her.”
While fear has forced many to leave KuGompo, foreign nationals in Qonce said they remained anxious even though they had not experienced direct threats.
A Somali shopkeeper, who asked not to be identified, said events unfolding elsewhere in the province had left many people deeply concerned.
“We are still here because no-one has threatened us directly, but we are afraid.
“Our brothers in KuGompo are scared. Some have no money for food or to travel home.”
March and March provincial organiser Azola Mrano said the organisation would continue community operations aimed at identifying undocumented foreign nationals, accusing government departments of failing to work with communities to address illegal immigration.
“We have tried to meet them many times. They want to continue doing things the way they have always done them.
“As a result, we have undocumented foreign nationals on every corner.” Mrano said the organisation had established teams in towns across the province to continue what it described as community raids targeting undocumented foreign nationals.
“We are making citizens’ arrests in many areas, but suspects are released on bail, even those allegedly found with drugs and without documentation,” she claimed.
“Instead of the government working with us, they are threatening us with more arrests.”
She said the movement would not observe Mandela Day this year.
“Instead of dedicating 67 minutes, we will continue conducting raids because we are frustrated.”
Masimanyane Women’s Rights International executive director Dr Lesley Ann Foster said witnessing hundreds of Zimbabwean nationals returning home had exposed the painful realities of broken families, undocumented children and systemic failures.
Foster, who has been assisting with a repatriation programme aimed at helping Zimbabweans return home, said many of those leaving were women travelling with children, while their partners remained behind in SA to continue working.
“The women were not accompanied by their partners,” Foster said.
“Looking at what these people have gone through was really heart-wrenching.”
She said many of the children had been born in SA but remained undocumented, making it difficult for families to access healthcare and other essential services.
“Because the women are here illegally, they are unable to access healthcare or even health information.
“The other issue is a lack of documentation for the women and children. Many of the children are not registered anywhere.”
Foster said her work centred on restoring dignity to people whose lives had been turned upside down.
“This process was attempting to restore dignity by ensuring they were no longer forced to live as fugitives,” she said.
She added that both the SA and Zimbabwean governments could have done more to prevent the humanitarian crisis from unfolding.
Zimbabwean government representative Chris Mutsvangwa, who serves as Zanu-PF secretary for information and publicity, said President Emmerson Mnangagwa had met amaMpondo aseNyandeni King Ndamase Ndamase and AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini to discuss the growing tensions affecting Zimbabwean nationals in SA.
“The messages have reached Harare,” Mutsvangwa said.
“We were unaware that the situation facing our citizens had deteriorated to this extent.
“We will be dealing with this matter at a government-to-government level, working together with our sister party, the ANC.”
He said relations between Zimbabwe’s governing Zanu-PF and the ANC would play an important role in finding a solution.
Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Luzuko Buku urged residents not to spread misinformation that could fuel panic, saying the municipality remained on high alert.
“We advise the public to be careful of some of the misinformation that can cause panic,” he said.
Buku said law enforcement agencies continued conducting joint operations to ensure the city remained safe for all residents.
Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Sunday, justice and constitutional development minister and chairperson of the inter-ministerial committee on migration Mmamoloko Kubayi outlined government’s intensified migration enforcement measures under its Five-Point Plan and warned communities against taking the law into their own hands.
Kubayi said that by the close of business on Saturday, 53,449 foreign nationals had been processed for deportation and repatriation, with Malawians accounting for the highest number, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.
A further 2,615 people had been returned to countries outside the SADC region, including 1,159 to Nigeria, 939 to Uganda, 431 to Kenya and 86 to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She said SA had, on a case-by-case basis, assisted neighbouring countries struggling to finance the sudden influx of returning citizens by covering transport, security and accommodation costs to ease congestion.
Kubayi said a processing centre capable of accommodating 20,000 people had been established in Musina near the Zimbabwean border on July 1, with daily repatriations peaking at 4,850 on July 5 before declining to 1,139 by July 11.
As governments discuss diplomatic solutions and authorities continue migration enforcement, many foreign nationals remain caught between fear and uncertainty.
