Sixteen Malawian citizens have returned home after being deported from Zimbabwe for using uncharted routes and improper traveling documents, local media reported on Thursday.

Mwanza border post spokesperson Pasqually Zulu told Malawi24 that the eight women, six men and two minors, who were stopped in Zimbabwe's capital Harare in January en route to South Africa, arrived in Malawi on  February 26.

Earlier this month, immigration authorities in Mozambique deported 23 Malawian nationals travelling in a truck, also headed for South Africa.