DURBAN – More than 3 000 Malawians, including hundreds of children, sought refuge in an open field in Durban on Wednesday after fleeing escalating anti-immigrant threats and attacks in South Africa’s third-largest city.

For weeks, groups armed with sticks, whips and shields have marched through parts of the country demanding foreigners without legal documentation leave by 30 June.

Families from poor neighbourhoods around the port city said they were forced from their homes under threat of violence. Many said repatriation is their only safe option.

“They said we must go. We have no choice in the matter,” said Sayiba John, who fled Nazareth township with her husband and three children.

Her daughter, a Grade 2 pupil, was forced to abandon her exams.

“It’s better our government take us away from here than to face the anger of the South Africans,” John told AFP.

More than 150 Malawians were bussed out of the Western Cape province over the weekend.

Two Mozambicans were killed more than a week ago in Mossel Bay, police confirmed, raising fears of a repeat of the bloodshed that has marked previous anti-migrant violence. Mozambican authorities put the death toll at five.

Numbers rising

Mathews Chakwamba (51), one of the community leaders coordinating relief efforts, said the number of Malawians at the Durban site had risen sharply in recent days.

“More and more are arriving. They all want to go home,” Chakwamba said.

He said a Malawian man was stabbed by attackers on Monday night but managed to escape and was later admitted to hospital.

Aid organisations have warned the situation could develop into a humanitarian crisis.

Around 150 migrants, including people from Burundi, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, have camped at a government office some seven kilometres away.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa unveils five-point plan to tackle illegal immigration

Ghana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique are among the countries that have repatriated hundreds of their nationals this month. The first batch of Nigerians to be evacuated is due to leave Johannesburg overnight aboard a chartered plane.

South Africa, among the continent’s richest economies, has long attracted both legal and undocumented African workers. But it has faced recurring waves of xenophobic violence since 2008, when dozens of migrants were killed and thousands displaced.

The latest violence comes as political parties campaign ahead of local government elections in November.

According to the statistics agency, some three million foreigners, or 5.1% of the population, live in South Africa. More than 63% come from countries in the 16-member Southern African Development Community bloc.

ALSO READ: Foreign nationals flee South Africa as anti-immigrant violence claims lives