10 of 300 Ghanaians on repatriation list were in SA legally

By Charmaine Ndlela

The first group of Ghanaian nationals left South Africa from O.R. Tambo International Airport on Wednesday as part of a voluntary repatriation process arranged by the Ghanaian government, as tensions continue to flare over undocumented migrants.

According to the Department of Home Affairs, only 10 out of the 300 individuals screened before departure were found to be legally in the country.

Home Affairs’ Immigration and Law Enforcement Head Stephen van Neel told the SABC that the majority of those processed were undocumented, had overstayed, or had violated immigration laws.

“Of the 300 individuals that were on that list, we only found 10 of them being legal in the country, the rest of them are illegal without documents or actually not complying or have overstayed, but there are some sanctions that need to be taken, and the Department of Home Affairs will indeed make sure those are implemented,”