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Malawian Migrant Workers Returned from South Africa Get Training

Lameck Masina

   BLANTYRE -- There are an estimated 100,000 Malawian migrant workers in
   South Africa, driven there by low incomes at home and the prospect of
   better jobs abroad. But a European Union-sponsored project is trying to
   reduce the number of Malawians leaving the country, and encourage
   migrants to return, by offering job training for self-employment.

   After years of struggling to feed his family, tailor Jeffrey Phanga
   went to South Africa in 2012 in search of better pay. But, like many
   Malawian migrant workers, his five-year stay in Johannesburg did not go
   as well as he'd hoped.

   "For the first three years, my working pattern was on and off; I
   couldn't find a proper job. Things did not work as expected," he said.

   In 2016, Phanga's employers at a state high school found out he was
   undocumented and fired him, along with six other illegal Malawians
   working as cleaners.

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