DURBAN – At least 1 876 of the 7, 000 Malawian nationals camped at the Sherwood Hall transit site in Durban have been found to be undocumented or otherwise illegally in the country, according to the Justice department.
A total of 676 have been voluntarily repatriated.
The Department of Home Affairs has now embarked on the process of invoking formal deportation proceedings in terms of the Immigration Act.
Andries Nel, Justice deputy minister said a virtual priority court linked to the Sherwood Hall has been set up to fast-track immigration matters. On Wednesday, an additional five in-person priority courts will be open at the Durban Magistrate’s Court.
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“The virtual priority court was able to process 80 deportation orders on Tuesday. Those were conducted strictly in terms of the law. All of those who requested legal representation, were afforded legal representation. We are very confident that today [Wednesday], a couple of hundred deportation orders will be processed,” Nel said.
The deputy minister said the department was also looking at expanding its capacity by bringing on board extra interpreters and acting magistrates to deal with the cases.
“What we learned yesterday is that working together as government across different spheres, we can make our resources go further and achieve the goals that we have set ourselves.”
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On Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli visited the site and announced that a steering committee would be established to help speed up the repatriation process.
The eThekwini Municipality has said it will provide transport between the Sherwood Hall area and Durban Magistrate’s Court to help speed up the hearing of cases.
"The Malawi government is also busy verifying the nationality status of many of those who are being voluntarily repatriated. By the end of yesterday, three buses had been cleared for departure. We are re-doubling our efforts to speed up those processes,” Nel added.