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South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) has disclosed that about 90 per cent of the 300 Ghanaian nationals repatriated from the country were found to be undocumented after immigration checks carried out before their departure.
The verification exercise was conducted on Wednesday at OR Tambo International Airport before the travellers boarded a chartered flight back to Ghana.
BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato said most of the passengers were discovered to be staying illegally in South Africa after immigration screening.
According to him, the Ghanaian embassy subsequently issued Emergency Travel Certificates to affected individuals to enable them return home. He explained that the documents serve as one-way travel permits for people without valid travel papers.
“Following an intense check-in process, the travellers proceeded to BMA immigration, where about 90% of them were found to be undocumented,” Masiapato said.
“The Ghanaian embassy subsequently had to issue them with emergency travel certificates.”
Masiapato stated that many of those repatriated had overstayed in South Africa for periods ranging from over 30 days to more than a year and were consequently declared undesirable under the country’s Immigration Act.
The repatriation followed recent anti-illegal immigration protests reported across several parts of South Africa.
Out of the 300 individuals initially processed for departure, authorities approved 295 to travel after screening.
The commissioner explained that five passengers were denied clearance for various immigration-related reasons.
One of them reportedly possessed a valid asylum seeker permit and could not legally leave the country without first withdrawing the protection application.
Another passenger was denied departure after presenting an expired passport without an accompanying Emergency Travel Certificate from the Ghanaian embassy.
Authorities also stopped a woman travelling with two children believed to belong to her sister after she failed to provide documents establishing her relationship with the minors or consent papers from their parents.
Masiapato said the decisions reflected the agency’s responsibility to ensure only legitimate movement of persons across South Africa’s borders.
“These decisions are in line with the BMA’s mandate to facilitate the legitimate movement of persons and goods,” Masiapato said.
The affected passengers were later handed over to the Ghanaian High Commission in Pretoria for possible future repatriation after meeting immigration requirements.
The first batch of repatriated Ghanaians reportedly arrived safely at Accra International Airport on Wednesday, where officials received them on arrival.
