Ghanaian nationals queued at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport early on Wednesday to board one of the first flights home after waves of anti-immigrant protests in South Africa heightened safety concerns.
The group of 300 people included women and children, in what authorities described as a voluntary repatriation process for Ghanaian citizens who say they no longer feel safe.
South African authorities have been working with Ghanaian authorities on a list of around 800 people who have indicated they want to leave.
A South African immigration official, who was not identified on screen, told local television station eNCA: “What we found is that of the 300 (on the first flight), only 10 of them are legal in the country, so quite a number of them are in non-compliance to our immigration act.”
