At an emotionally charged meeting with Ghana’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, at the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria, distressed Ghanaian nationals shared painful accounts of fear, legal uncertainty and economic hardship amid the growing wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
The meeting, captured on video, exposed the deepening crisis confronting Ghana’s estimated 20,000 nationals in South Africa, with many desperate to return home while others remain stranded by difficult economic and legal circumstances.
A tearful woman, expressing her sorrow, said she had wanted to return home since last year, after the situation that brought her to South Africa failed to work out as expected.
“Since last year, I have wanted to leave this country because the situation that brought me here did not work out. I want to go back home, and I need to return to Ghana,” she said emotionally.
Another distressed man, identifying himself as a teacher who had been working legally in South Africa, did not mince words.
“We don’t want to stay here. I’m sick and tired of this country,” he said directly to the minister. “I have been working as a teacher in this country. Not that Ghanaians are illegal but the Home Affairs forces most of them to be illegal.”
He explained that many Ghanaians who once held valid legal status have found themselves in bureaucratic limbo, with permanent residency permits revoked without clear justification, and business permits that were renewed multiple times suddenly declared fraudulent by authorities.
The man also described an incident involving a Ghanaian woman who was knocked down by a car. He said he personally took up her case, hired a lawyer at his own expense, and pursued it to its conclusion — only to be told the claim had been declined.
Another speaker, a woman, raised urgent concern for Ghanaians living outside Pretoria who are too scared to travel to register for the repatriation programme.
“Some of us outside Pretoria can’t even travel by bus or taxi to come and register their names, because they are scared,” she said.
“The moment they started the makwerekwere style” a derogatory term used by some South Africans against foreign nationals “they have to divert the taxis somewhere. So, what about them? What are the safety measures towards them?”
Her words highlighted a critical gap in the evacuation effort: that the most vulnerable Ghanaians, those stranded in townships and smaller towns beyond the capital, may be entirely unreachable.
A business owner at the meeting offered what was perhaps the starkest assessment of the situation, warning that the current wave of anti-immigrant sentiment is not a passing storm.
“What we are seeing or witnessing is not something that is going to end today,” he said. “Most of them have put these guys who are doing these demonstrations on the payroll a strong one. So, it’s not something that’s going to end today.”
Looking ahead to a worst-case scenario, the businessman said he had already begun exploring whether South African counterparts could formally take over Ghanaian-owned businesses through a regulated process.
“I’m looking at a worse scenario as a business owner — discussing with South African counterparts if they can actually have a takeover plan of Ghanaian businesses. At the VTI, they’ve got a takeover regulatory panel where they will be able to give us offers so that they can take over those businesses to local South Africans, so that we can leave peacefully.”
Response from Government
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced a support package for Ghanaians returning from South Africa, including financial assistance, transportation support, reintegration aid and free psychosocial counselling services.
As of May 21, more than 800 Ghanaians had registered at the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria for evacuation, with the first group of returnees expected to depart after ongoing verification and screening processes are completed.
However, accounts from the meeting revealed that beyond the evacuation figures are painful stories of shattered livelihoods, revoked legal documents and growing frustration among Ghanaians who say they followed the law but still found themselves vulnerable.
For many affected nationals, the issue is no longer whether they should return home, but whether adequate support systems will be in place to help them rebuild their lives upon arrival in Ghana.
Myjoyonline
