Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rejects Claims Ghanaians Fuel High Crime Rate in South Africa
- Ghana's Foreign Affairs Minister has addressed some of the allegations made against Ghanaians in South Africa
- Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also discussed what was happening with the ongoing efforts to repatriate Ghanaians
- Ablakwa assured Ghanaians that no citizen would be left behind, amid delays with the repatriation process
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Byron Pillay, a Briefly News journalist, has dedicated a decade to reporting on the South African political landscape, crime, and social issues. He worked as a newspaper journalist for 10 years before transitioning to online.
ACCRA - Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has rejected claims that Ghanaians were involved in crime in South Africa.
Tensions continue to grow in the country as organisations and individuals demand that illegal immigrants leave the country by 30 June 2026. Many claim that undocumented foreign nationals were contributing to the high crime and unemployment levels in the country.
Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has rejected these allegations, describing them as misinformation and propaganda.
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What did Ablakwa say?
While addressing efforts to evacuate more Ghanaian nationals from South Africa, Ablakwa addressed allegations that foreign nationals were involved in crime.
“The vast majority of Ghanaians we have registered so far are legal migrants. We checked their documentation together with the Home Affairs Department, and not even one person is of interest to the South African authorities. So please disregard the misinformation and propaganda," he said.
"Clearly, Ghana is not responsible for any high crime rates or illegality that is going on in South Africa," Ablakwa added.
The minister also rejected claims that many of the Ghanaians were in South Africa illegally. The Department of Home Affairs previously reported that of the 300 who were recently evacuated, only 10 had the required documentation.
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Voluntarily repatriation is temporarily suspended
Ablakwa’s comments come as Ghanaian authorities move to repatriate more of its citizens from South Africa. A total of 300 Ghanaians were flown out of the country on Wednesday, 27 May 2026, with plans for a second flight to depart on 31 May 2026; however this never materialised, with Ablakwa saying that South African authorities never approved a flight permit.
He further explained that the registration process was temporarily suspended due to the high number of applications they received.
"This is to enable the High Commission, together with the South African Home Affairs, to process and screen the large number of applications we have already received.”
Ablakwa said that to date, over 1,500 Ghanaians have registered for repatriation. He added that they wanted to assure Ghanaians that the repatriation process had not ended, and so those who had not yet registered would be able to do so when the process was restarted.
Ghanaian national disappointed with South Africa
A Ghanaian national spoke to Briefly News about the country's perception of South Africa amid attacks against foreign nationals.
Emmanuel Mensah-Amoah, a resident of Accra, discussed why many Ghanaians opted to come to South Africa in the first place.
The Ghanaian national also discussed the special package that his government offered citizens who would be evacuated from South Africa.
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Source: Briefly News
