South Africa will eventually have to draw the line somewhere.
If African governments say they don’t have the resources to even repatriate their own citizens, then the real question is: what is their long-term plan for those people once they are back home?
If a state cannot fund transport for a few thousand people today, how does it expect to provide jobs, housing, healthcare, and basic services tomorrow so those same people don’t end up returning to South Africa out of necessity?
South Africa cannot indefinitely absorb the consequences of governance failures elsewhere in the name of ubuntu or regional solidarity. At some point responsibility has to sit where it belongs: with the governments of those countries.
We need to start being honest about how we have normalised bad leadership, incompetence and corruption on the African continent, and how South Africa has had to bear the brunt of poorly governed nations for decades now.
But at some point, South Africa will also have to stop playing the role of enabler.