Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, has rejected claims by South African immigration authorities that most of the 300 Ghanaians recently repatriated were living in the country illegally.
According to Mr. Quashie, the majority of the evacuees were legally documented residents in South Africa.
“Let me state on record that 80% of the 300 people that we got repatriated to Ghana today were documented immigrants in South Africa, 20% were undocumented,” he said in an interview on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Wednesday, May 28.
Mr. Quashie’s remarks follow comments by South African immigration authorities, who earlier alleged that most of the Ghanaians who reported for repatriation at OR Tambo International Airport were undocumented migrants.
Head of Immigration and Law Enforcement at South Africa’s Home Affairs Department, Stephen van Neel, told reporters that only a small number of the evacuees were found to have legal immigration status.
“Of the 300 individuals that were on that list, we only found 10 of them to be legal in the country. We obviously have to make sure that certain sanctions are enforced,” van Neel stated.
He added that authorities had uncovered widespread immigration violations during the repatriation process.
However, Benjamin Quashie strongly disputed the claims, accusing South African officials of misrepresenting the situation.
According to him, the narrative being pushed by immigration authorities does not reflect the actual documentation status of the evacuees.
He insisted that while some of the returnees were undocumented, the overwhelming majority had valid immigration documents before deciding to return home amid fears linked to xenophobic attacks.
The evacuation exercise forms part of efforts by the Ghanaian government to assist citizens seeking to leave South Africa following renewed concerns over xenophobic tensions and insecurity targeting foreign nationals.
