Johannesburg – Only 10 out of 300 Ghanaian nationals who boarded a voluntary repatriation flight from South Africa on Wednesday were found to be legally in the country, according to immigration officials at OR Tambo International Airport.
The revelation sharply contradicts earlier claims by Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, who indicated that those registered for evacuation were in South Africa lawfully, eNCA reported.
Officials say the majority of the group were undocumented, overstaying visas, or not in compliance with immigration laws.
WATCH: Out of the 300 Ghanaians who wanted to leave South Africa citing “xenophobic attacks,” only 10 of them had the valid documents to be here.
🎥 eNCA pic.twitter.com/SDsRx3bV8U— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) May 27, 2026
The first group departed as part of a Ghana government-led voluntary repatriation programme, which has seen more than 800 Ghanaians register for assistance amid rising anti-immigration tensions in South Africa.
The initiative follows protests and threats by groups such as Operation Dudula and March and March, which have demanded that undocumented foreign nationals leave the country.
Authorities said enforcement measures, including possible sanctions under immigration law, will follow for those found to be in breach of regulations.
Head of Immigration and Law Enforcement at Home Affairs, Stephen van Neel, said officials worked overnight to verify documents before departure and stressed that compliance checks were necessary before allowing the flight to proceed.
The Ghanians who spent a night at the Embassy of Ghana in Pretoria waiting to be repatriated back home have started arriving at the OR International Airport.They took a decision to leave South Africa due to the growing anti immigrant sentiment in South Africa. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/vrxhM3LCeG
— Sophie Mokoena (@Sophie_Mokoena) May 27, 2026
“It is important that it was important for us that we go through a process of verification and checks and make sure that those who are departing are indeed people that we can allow to depart,” Van Neel told SABC News.
“So there was indeed a need for us to go and look at the verification processes against some of our security systems. The Department of Home Affairs is one of those responsible for immigration procedures.
“So what happened is that we worked throughout the night, and we had hoped, as we had agreed with the embassy, that we would have the 300 hundred names of people who would depart. But what happened here is that, after a long night of working through the night, we found ourselves with some amendments to the list that we had to make sure were still in compliance with our requirements for people to depart.
“Well, what we have found is that of the three hundred individuals that are on that list, we only found ten of them being legal in the country. The rest of them are all illegal, without documents or actually not complying, and have been overstaying.”
The discrepancy has also raised diplomatic tension, with Ghanaian officials previously stating that many of those leaving had not experienced direct danger but felt unsafe amid growing anti-immigration sentiment.
South Africa’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, said government immigration reforms are underway, including proposals to process asylum applications at border posts to prevent undocumented entry into communities while cases are assessed.
The repatriation effort is expected to continue, with more Ghanaians registered for voluntary return in the coming days.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
