Moonisah’s Story: From the Mother City to Mangochi

Four years ago, I interviewed Oscar Haj Namata (45), a Malawian who had been living and working in Cape Town (the Mother City) since 1996. At the time of the interview, Oscar and his wife, Mabel, expressed the wish that their two-year-old daughter, Moonisah, would have a better future in Cape Town, where she was born. Recently, I discovered that they had sent Moonisah (now age 6) to Malawi to live with Mabel’s sister.

Both Oscar and Mabel are employed at the same company as driver and receptionist, respectively. As driver to the CEO, Oscar’s hours are unpredictable, and it was becoming difficult for him to fetch Moonisah from school, and public transport in Cape Town can be unreliable and unsafe. The decision to send her home was not made lightly, as Oscar explains:

“Sometimes I had to leave her alone in the house and run back to the office quickly before anyone noticed. That was not easy for us. Anything can happen and we always find out too late and we cannot blame anyone.

We had no choice but to send her home.”

Oscar Haj Namata

The last time Oscar saw Moonisah was in September 2019 in Malawi. Mabel’s sister decided it would be best for them not to communicate with her for the first three months so that she could adjust to her new life. “She didn’t know where we were until we gave her the first video call. She didn’t say anything. The tears were just dropping.”

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Now they speak almost daily on WhatsApp via voice notes. Moonisah speaks English to them, because she thinks that her parents don’t understand Chewa. Although it is difficult for them to be away from her, they believe that she is safe and well-looked after, since Mabel’s brother-in-law is a school teacher and they live on campus.

Oscar will be visiting Moonisah in December. She is excited for his visit and the South African chocolates and ice cream that he will bring. He wants her to return to South Africa in a few years’ time when “she can take taxis by herself”.

Although Moonisah was born in South Africa, she is not a citizen. According to Oscar, her birth certificate shows she is a foreigner, but he hopes that “one day she will be able to go to Home Affairs and get that citizenship”.

Read Oscar’s story here