Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is releasing a series of five video testimonies from refugees and migrants displaced by April’s wave of xenophobic violence in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal to displacement camps in Chatsworth and Isipingo set up by local authorities.

The organisation hopes that the videos will, in the build up to Africa Day (25 May), showcase the plight of those affected to both South Africans and the world at large, and to encourage people to share their stories as a starting point to inspire solidarity for survival and to stop xenophobia.

Each of these stories exposes the harsh reality of life as a kwere kwere in South Africa: persistent xenophobia that leads to healthcare exclusion, a denial of protection and unpredictable violence from friends and neighbours. Most testify to people continuously on the run: having first fled war and poverty, they now struggle to survive in a hostile South Africa. A number of them experienced similar violence in 2008.

Other videos will question the idea of nationality and emphasize a shared humanity and entitlement to be treated the same as anyone else.

Steven Mware, an economic migrant, came to South Africa from Malawi in 2010, and had never been ‘home’ to see his family until April 2015, when he was one of 3 000 Malawians repatriated from Durban. Mware had been working for a non-profit organisation taking care of people with disabilities. As a part-time pastor, he became the de-facto leader of the Malawians who were destined for repatriation.

On the night of 16 April, he was warned by friends to leave his home in Chatsworth, Durban, as it was about to be attacked. Together with another local pastor, they hurriedly packed his possessions and fled to a nearby displacement camp, set up by local authorities.

Once things have ‘quietened down’, Mware plans to return to South Africa, as he is still owed a salary, and wants to continue providing for his family.

Video commissioned by MSF

The videos were filmed and edited by Durban-based Scholars & Gentlemen