Following an extensive check-in process, travellers proceeded through BMA immigration control, where officials found that about 90% were undocumented.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
The Commissioner of the Border Management Authority, Dr Michael Masiapato, confirmed that officials processed 300 Ghanaian nationals for departure to Ghana at OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday morning.
Of the group, 25 individuals were transferred from the Lindela holding facility by the Department of Home Affairs’ Immigration Inspectorate, while the remaining 275 were brought to the airport by the Ghanaian High Commission.
Following an extensive check-in process, travellers proceeded through BMA immigration control, where officials found that about 90% were undocumented.
The Ghanaian Embassy subsequently issued Emergency Travel Certificates to those without valid travel documents. The certificates are single-page, one-way travel documents permitting return to their country of origin.
Authorities said most of the travellers had overstayed their visas by more than 30 days, while some had remained in South Africa unlawfully for more than a year.
As a result, they were declared undesirable under Section 30 of the Immigration Act, read with Regulation 27(3)(c) of the Immigration Regulations.
The BMA has this morning successfully processed 300 Ghanaians from South Africa to Ghana at OR Tambo International Airport.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
At the end of the processing, 295 passengers were found eligible to depart, they then boarded the chartered flight arranged by the Ghanaian government through its High Commission in Pretoria and eventually departed.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
At the conclusion of the process, 295 passengers were cleared for departure and boarded a chartered flight arranged by the Ghanaian government through its High Commission in Pretoria.
However, five travellers were denied departure for immigration-related reasons.
One passenger, who held a valid asylum seeker permit, could not leave South Africa without formally withdrawing his protection application, as officials said this would amount to refoulement.
Another traveller was denied departure after failing to produce a valid travel document and had not been issued with an Emergency Travel Certificate by the embassy.
A woman travelling with two minor children, believed to belong to her sister, was also stopped after she failed to provide proof of relationship or the required parental consent documentation.
The remaining travellers denied departure were handed back to the Ghanaian High Commissioner for possible future repatriation once they comply with immigration requirements.
Masiapato said the operation demonstrated the BMA’s commitment to enforcing South Africa’s immigration laws while facilitating legitimate movement across the country’s borders.
“This decisive action underscores the BMA’s uncompromising implementation of the South African legislative framework in its facilitation and management of people and goods movement in and out of the country,” he said.
IOL