‘We leave with only the clothes on our backs’: foreigners flee Mamelodi amid rising tensions

Community leaders in Mamelodi East have urged government intervention after growing fears of violence prompted foreign nationals to pack bags and board buses home, carrying little more than plastic bags and the clothes on their backs.

Families leave amid fear and shuttered shops

The human impact of nationwide anti-illegal immigration protests was visible in the township where children played in a dusty field while parents prepared to leave. Outside the local police station, Zimbabwean and Mozambican nationals queued for buses, with many appearing to take only what they could carry.

Many spaza shops in the area remained closed after the protests, and some residents described the scene as tense and unstable. One shop across from the police station had reopened, but others were shut as people avoided public spaces.

Community leaders call for urgent action

Alfred Moloko, a community leader, told reporters they were concerned for the safety of both locals and foreign nationals and appealed for government help.

“We are trying to protect both sides and we need the government to help us,”

“We are getting scared. The locals and foreigners can attack each other.”

Moloko said about 30 foreigners boarded a bus to Johannesburg, where they planned to catch another bus to Zimbabwe, and that Malawians were waiting for a separate bus to return to their country.

Voices from the exodus

A foreign national described leaving South Africa with almost nothing. “We came here to work, now we leave with only the clothes on our backs. They even took my shoes,” he said.

Some people said they intended to return to South Africa once the situation calmed down.

Organised returns and uncertainty

Solomon Mondlane, a member of the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique, said they did not have an exact number of foreigners expected to return home yet but gave an estimated figure.

“The estimated number is more than 5 000, which includes Malawians transiting through our country,”

Others remained in the township gathering belongings and moving to pick-up points for repatriation. One immigrant said few people were at the mall and that supermarkets had no long queues because many were staying indoors.

Another immigrant said local residents were taking property belonging to foreigners and that she was looking for a safe place to store some of her belongings, adding that her life was more important.

What happens next

Community leaders have appealed to police and the government to prevent tensions from escalating into violence as displaced families wait to be transported home. The situation in Mamelodi highlights the immediate human cost of the recent protests and the fragile state of township life while the authorities and community groups respond.