BY ISSAH OLEGOR
Desperate Ghanaians left stranded in South Africa after xenophobic attacks have appealed to the government to reopen its voluntary evacuation programme, saying they have lost their jobs, businesses and accommodation and are now struggling to survive.
The renewed appeal comes only days after the government concluded the evacuation exercise, with the arrival of the final batch of 41 Ghanaians in Ghana on September 4, 2026, bringing the total number of Ghanaians returned under the programme to 1,964.
For some of those who remain in South Africa, however, the end of the exercise has not brought relief. Instead, they say they are still facing severe economic and accommodation difficulties and fear that they could be left behind despite having previously expressed interest in returning home.
One of the stranded Ghanaians, Margaret Amenuvegbe, said she and others had initially registered for the evacuation but failed to attend the subsequent screening after hearing reports about difficult conditions at evacuation centres.
“We came after the screening. We were supposed to register to come home. We did the registration, but we didn’t come for the screening,” she said during an interview on Eyewitness News on Monday, September 7.
According to Amenuvegbe, reports that some Ghanaians who had already arrived at evacuation centres were struggling to find accommodation discouraged others from proceeding with the process.
She said they had heard that the facilities were overcrowded and that some returnees had reportedly been forced to sleep at a church because there was nowhere else to accommodate them.
“We heard that the place was so crowded, and then there’s nowhere to sleep,” she explained.
Despite the concerns that initially prevented her group from completing the screening process, Amenuvegbe said the situation had become so difficult that they were now desperate to return to Ghana.
She said some Ghanaians had allegedly been forced out of their workplaces and accommodation amid the tensions surrounding migrants in South Africa.
“We wanted to come. We were ready to come because they even chased us from where we were working and then where we were sleeping,” she said.
Amenuvegbe said her immediate group consists of four adults and four children, all of whom are seeking assistance to return to Ghana.
She added that they were not the only Ghanaians facing such difficulties, as several others remained in similarly precarious circumstances.
The situation, she said, had been particularly challenging for Ghanaians without valid work permits.
Amenuvegbe, who said she had lived in South Africa for 14 years, explained that she had worked as a hairdresser but was eventually forced to stop working because of immigration-related challenges.
She complained that attempts to regularise documentation had not provided a practical solution for those seeking to work legally.
“When you apply for any paper, they don’t issue it,” she said. “Even if you show it to them, they say, yes, we can see you have a paper, but it doesn’t allow you to work.”
The difficulties confronting the stranded Ghanaians, according to Amenuvegbe, extend beyond employment.
She said some Ghanaians had lost businesses they had established in South Africa as well as accommodation, leaving them without reliable sources of income or stable places to live.
“It’s like everything is just—we are desperate,” she said.
She disclosed that she and some other affected Ghanaians were currently staying at a church while waiting for assistance.
Their living conditions, she said, had become increasingly uncomfortable, particularly as temperatures dropped.
“We are sleeping on the floor,” she said, adding that the weather was becoming colder as the season changed.
The appeal has therefore shifted from simply requesting assistance to complete the evacuation process to an urgent plea for the government to consider extending the programme for people who remain stranded.
Amenuvegbe made an emotional appeal to the Ghanaian government to give stranded citizens another opportunity to return home. “We are on our knees. We are begging,” she said.
