Mozambique: Returnees at a loss after fleeing South Africa

Orlando Pereira and Agostino Antônio Bila are two of the more than 26,000 Mozambicans who have fled South Africa and returned to their country of origin with little more than stories of hatred.

29 May 2008

“Ungrateful people!” (Image: Tebogo Letsie/IRIN)

Pereira, 20, hawked washcloths and dishtowels in Germiston, on Johannesburg's East Rand, while Bila, 17, sold CDs in Pretoria, about 50km north of Johannesburg.

Both have now returned to Chamanculo, a sprawling township on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital, Maputo, driven home by an outbreak of xenophobia that has left 56 people dead, most of whom are thought to be Mozambicans.

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