GHANAIANS LEAVE SOUTH AFRICA AS MIGRATION PRESSURE SPREADS

Ghana began repatriating hundreds of its citizens from South Africa on Wednesday after weeks of anti-immigrant protests and violence against foreign nationals raised safety concerns. Reuters reported that about 300 Ghanaian nationals, including women and children, queued at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport for one of the first voluntary return flights home. South African and Ghanaian authorities are also working from a list of about 800 people who have expressed interest in leaving.

The immediate trigger is local, but the wider pattern is global. In South Africa, demonstrators have demanded tighter controls on undocumented migrants and accused foreigners of contributing to crime and unemployment. Migrant-rights groups argue that foreigners are being unfairly blamed for deeper economic problems, including unemployment that has remained above 30% for more than five years. Reuters reported earlier this month that South Africa’s official unemployment rate rose to 32.7% in the first quarter of 2026.

South African immigration officials said many of those leaving did not have legal status. Reuters reported that an unnamed South African immigration official told local broadcaster eNCA that only 10 of the 300 people in the first Ghanaian group were legally in the country. Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, said the process was meant to ease tensions while preserving diplomatic ties, and emphasized that undocumented migration should be handled through institutions rather than street violence.

The repatriation is not only a Ghanaian issue. AP reported that more Ghanaians than expected turned up for the first flight and that another flight was expected Sunday. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that at least 130 Nigerians had also asked to be repatriated from South Africa after protests targeting foreigners, showing that the pressure is being felt by multiple African migrant communities.

South Africa has a long and painful history of violence against foreign nationals. Human Rights Watch reported that major attacks broke out in 2008, when violence that began in Alexandra, Johannesburg spread across seven of South Africa’s nine provinces and left 62 people dead, while tens of thousands were displaced. HRW also noted later waves of violence in 2015, 2019, and 2021–2022, with newer anti-migrant and vigilante movements emerging as economic conditions worsened.

The current tension is being driven by several pressures at once: undocumented migration, weak job creation, crime fears, pressure on public services, and public frustration with government capacity. Those concerns are real political forces. The danger is that they can slide from demands for immigration enforcement into collective punishment of foreign communities, including people who are legal residents, workers, children, or asylum seekers.

That tension is now visible well beyond South Africa. In Europe, Reuters reported that EU lawmakers approved tougher asylum-return rules this year as governments respond to public pressure for faster deportations and stricter migration controls. In Britain, Reuters reported that net migration nearly halved in 2025 after tighter rules, while immigration remained a central political issue. In Switzerland, Reuters reported that housing pressure has helped fuel support for a proposed population cap.

The South Africa case is different from the European debate, but it belongs to the same wider moment. Across multiple countries, immigration is increasingly being treated not only as a labour or humanitarian issue, but as a question of public order, housing, jobs, national control, and trust in government. Supporters of tighter enforcement argue that governments must restore lawful migration systems. Critics warn that broad anti-migrant campaigns can scapegoat foreigners for structural economic failures.

For Ghana and South Africa, the immediate test is whether repatriation can reduce tensions without normalizing intimidation as a tool of immigration policy. For the wider world, the case shows that anti-immigration pressure is not confined to Western politics. It is becoming a global force, shaped by local conditions but tied together by the same basic question: whether governments can manage migration lawfully before public frustration spills into disorder.

Fact-check date: 27 May 2026
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Human Rights Watch, Statistics South Africa via Reuters

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