Community leaders have called for government intervention as growing fears of violence prompt foreign nationals to leave Mamelodi.
Migrant families board buses home as community leaders appealed for urgent intervention to prevent tensions from escalating into violence. Picture: Supplied
The human toll of South Africa’s anti‑illegal immigration protests is visible in Mamelodi East, Pretoria.
Children kicked a plastic bottle in a dusty field while their parents packed bags to leave the country.
Outside the local police station, Zimbabwean and Mozambican nationals lined up for buses home, carrying little more than plastic bags and the clothes on their backs.
Community leaders call for intervention
Community leaders pleaded with police for help, warning that tensions between locals and foreigners could erupt into violence.
Amid shuttered spaza shops and fear‑stricken residents, the exodus highlighted the fragile state of township life in the wake of nationwide protests.
Although many spaza shops in township were still closed following the protests on Tuesday, locals complained a spaza shop across from the police station reopened and it was business as usual.
Community leader Alfred Moloko said they were worried about the safety of locals and foreign nationals.
“We are trying to protect both sides and we need the government to help us,” he said.
“We are getting scared. The locals and foreigners can attack each other.”
Moloko said about 30 foreigners got onto the bus to go to Johannesburg, where they will take another bus to Zimbabwe.
After the group of Zimbabweans boarded the bus, Malawians waited for another bus, which was going to take them to their country.
Leaving ‘with only the clothes on our backs’
A foreign national said he had nothing left in South Africa.
“We came here to work, now we leave with only the clothes on our backs. They even took my shoes,” he said.
Other foreigners said they would return to South Africa once the situation has calm down.
National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique member Solomon Mondlane said they don’t have the exact number of foreigners who were expected to return home yet.
“The estimated number is more than 5 000, which includes Malawians transiting through our country,” he said.
Uncertainty remains for those staying
Another immigrant, Caroline Moyo, said some foreigners were still busy packing their belongings and moving to pick up locations to be sent back home.
“The situation is unstable. Very few people are at the mall; no long queues at supermarkets because everyone is hiding,” she said.
Moyo said for now, she was still hanging around.
“Local residents are taking the property of foreigners. I am looking for a safe place to store some of my stuff,” she said, adding her life was more important.
