DURBAN, South Africa — The humanitarian crisis unfolding on the Sherwood Community Hall grounds escalated dramatically on Wednesday morning, as thousands of displaced Malawian nationals clashed with South African law enforcement. What began as a transit camp for refugees fleeing xe__noph0bic violence transformed briefly into a chaotic battleground, highlighting the deep frustrations underlying a massive, gridlocked repatriation process.
[WATCH] Undocumented Malawians have now turned Sherwood outside the Durban CBD into an active crime scene, they are attacking police officers as they refuse to go through a deportation process. @_NMabaso pic.twitter.com/WJmGSo7bI4
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) June 17, 2026
The unrest erupted after officials announced plans to relocate a portion of the estimated 7,000 to 10,000 migrants to an alternative processing site along the Durban beachfront. Exhausted by weeks of sleeping in the cold with minimal sanitation, and fearful that the move would further delay their journey home, a large group of frustrated migrants turned on law enforcement. Protesters hurled stones, bricks, and logs at officers, while others wielded sticks to push back security lines.
Police responded by firing stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd and regain control of the area. Local ward leaders noted that while the outbreak of violence was deeply concerning, it was fueled entirely by compounding desperation, procedural delays, and a fierce resistance to being separated or moved further from the designated evacuation point.
The vast majority of the Malawian people gathered at the Sherwood site are not trying to evade authorities; rather, they fled to the field seeking protection after being driven out of local informal settlements by anti-migrant vigilantes. While the Malawian government has successfully processed and sent home several hundred citizens, the sheer scale of the displacement has completely overwhelmed resources. A virtual priority court has now been established on-site by South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs to fast-track documentation, as both governments rush to defuse the bottleneck and safely return the remaining thousands to Malawi.
