DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal — The escalating crisis involving refugees stranded outside Home Affairs office in Durban has now entered its third month, with hundreds of displaced individuals pleading for immediate intervention and secure housing. Despite possessing valid legal documentation, these vulnerable groups report having no viable safe haven after fleeing their neighborhoods amid escalating hostility and protests directed at foreign nationals.
More than 450 people, predominantly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have been camping on the pavement adjacent to the department’s refugee reception center for over two months. Their displacement began after they participated in a demonstration outside the Durban Central Police Station, anticipating the widespread June 30 protests that specifically targeted undocumented foreign nationals. Consequently, many have lost their employment, residences, and fundamental sense of safety.
The prolonged encampment is severely impacting children, who are increasingly being pulled out of the education system. Advocates on the ground highlight that students face relentless bullying and harassment from peers, leading to severe psychological trauma. Furthermore, several educational institutions have openly refused admission to foreign nationals, explicitly stating they wish to avoid community friction or “problems.”
Attempts to reintegrate into local neighborhoods have repeatedly failed. Representatives from the displaced community emphasize that individuals who attempted to return to their former neighborhoods were met with fresh waves of intimidation and physical attacks. Citing documented evidence of these assaults, many have been forced to retreat to the relative, albeit precarious, safety of the pavement outside the facility.
In response to the deteriorating conditions, the eThekwini municipality has deployed portable sanitation facilities to the site. Concurrently, various humanitarian agencies are providing critical survival supplies, including drinking water, meals, and thermal blankets.
A notable intervention has been led by the humanitarian organization Gift of the Givers, which organized bus transport to repatriate stranded Malawian nationals to Musina. This effort supports over 100 Malawian individuals who had been sheltering at a decommissioned temporary repatriation hub located at an old drive-in venue. Beneficiaries expressed deep gratitude, noting that the organization provides comprehensive daily meals—from morning through dinner—and manages the entire logistical and financial arrangement for their journey to Musina, with subsequent plans to facilitate their crossing into Malawi.
Despite these relief efforts, underlying societal tensions persist. The lobbying organization March and March has publicly declared its intention to keep mobilizing local communities nationwide to demonstrate against undocumented foreign nationals.
This local standoff occurs alongside recent national statistics. Just two weeks prior, South Africa’s Home Affairs Department announced that upwards of 50,000 foreign nationals have returned to their countries of origin, highlighting the complex and ongoing dynamics surrounding migration and displacement in the region.
