In an extraordinary move, Ghana on Wednesday chartered a flight to repatriate about 300 of its citizens living in South Africa, Ghanaian officials said.
The mass repatriation came amid rising anti-immigrant protests in South Africa, where for nearly two decades the authorities have been troubled by violent anti-migrant attacks, mostly on Africans.
Several African leaders have forcefully condemned such attacks, while South African government officials deny allegations of xenophobia.
“There are no xenophobic attacks in South Africa,” Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a South African cabinet official, said during a news conference this month. “There have been attacks on foreign nationals, which is unfortunate.” She added that law enforcement was working to stop the violence.
Anti-immigrant protests have increased across South Africa over the last several months. The protesters accuse immigrants of entering the country illegally, taking jobs and committing crimes.
Some of the protesters have demanded that all undocumented foreigners leave the country by June 30, without explaining what the repercussions might be. The South African government said it was working to prevent any violence.
Here’s what to know about the growing anti-immigration sentiment in South Africa.
Why did the Ghanaians leave?
Many Ghanaians said they no longer felt safe in South Africa.
Diana Akuffo, 32, said she was closing her hair salon in the town of Flagstaff last week when a group of men chased her. One of them hit her in the head with a stick and threatened her with a knife, she said.
“I need help,” she said at the airport in Accra, where she returned after four years in South Africa.
Ms. Akuffo and the other passengers crowded into a hall in the airport for a welcome home reception on Wednesday that was both tearful and joyful. They were surrounded by dozens of reporters and government officials.
“If you mess around with Ghanaians anywhere in the world thinking that they are orphaned or nobody cares about them, you are mistaken,” Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the country’s foreign minister, told the crowd.
He led the returnees in prayer, promised them two allowances from the government — one for transportation anywhere in the country and another “to help you put your lives back on track” — and said they would be offered psychosocial support. At one point, the crowd rose and joined him in song.
About 890 Ghanaians in South Africa have registered to be repatriated, said Benjamin Quashie, Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa. Another flight was expected to depart Johannesburg on Friday, he said.
What’s the diplomatic fallout?
Anti-immigrant violence in South Africa dates to 2008, but this latest round has led to harsh criticism from foreign officials — and strong pushback from South African leaders.
“It is really condemnable to see that particularly West Africans have come under another round of xenophobic attacks in South Africa,” Mr. Ablakwa said during a summit last month.
Mr. Ablakwa said he had summoned the head of South Africa’s mission in Ghana and had spoken by phone with South Africa’s foreign minister.
Nigeria’s foreign minister, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, also condemned what she called xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in the country and summoned South Africa’s high commissioner for a meeting.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa plans to present a continental migration compact at an African Union meeting next month, according to an official in his political party.
South Africa has more than three million immigrants, according to government statistics, with nearly 64 percent of them coming from southern Africa. But it is unclear how many additional undocumented immigrants there are in the country.
How did South Africa get here?
The unemployment rate in South Africa long has hovered at more than 30 percent, and many citizens blame undocumented foreigners for occupying jobs they say they should have, a criticism some economists dispute.
Studies suggest that anti-immigrant sentiment has grown since 2008, when 43 percent of South Africans said they would welcome all immigrants, according to a survey by the Human Sciences Research Council. In 2025, that number dropped to 15 percent.
Analysts say this round of anti-immigrant protest seems more organized than previous ones, with social media adding fuel to the flames. They also warned that the situation could become more violent as local elections approach in November and politicians use their opposition to immigration to win support.
“Essentially we’re seeing xenophobic sort of vigilantism being legitimized,” said Jo Vearey, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg who researches migration and health.
Many of the demonstrations have been led by a relatively new organization called March and March. One protest leader, Nkosikhona Ndabandaba, leads a group of men dressed in Zulu warrior regalia at the marches.
“We are not fighting our own Black brothers,” Mr. Ndabandaba said in an interview during a march in the capital, Pretoria, last month. “We are fighting the system that is putting every foreigner above South Africans.”
John Eligon is the Johannesburg bureau chief for The Times, covering a wide range of events and trends that influence and shape the lives of ordinary people across southern Africa.
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