The first group of Ghanaian nationals has been evacuated from South Africa under a British-brokered safe passage agreement, sources confirm. The evacuation comes as xenophobic violence and immigration protests in Johannesburg and Durban spiral out of control, with at least 12 dead and hundreds displaced. Uncovered documents from the Ghanaian High Commission in Pretoria reveal that the UK Foreign Office stepped in after talks between Accra and Pretoria collapsed.
'We couldn't rely on South African authorities. They were either unwilling or unable to guarantee safety,' a senior Ghanaian diplomat told me. 'The British offered logistics and transport. We accepted.'
The operation, code-named Operation Safe Return, airlifted 127 Ghanaians from OR Tambo International Airport to Accra's Kotoka International Airport. The flight, chartered by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, landed at 2:47 AM local time. Passengers included women, children and elderly men. All had sought refuge in churches and community centres after their shops and homes were torched.
'They came with machetes and iron bars. They said go back to your country,' recounted Kwame Asante, a 43-year-old trader who lost his electronics store in Soweto. 'I have been in South Africa for 15 years. Now I have nothing.'
British officials insist the operation was not an admission of failure by South African authorities but a 'humanitarian necessity.' A UK embassy spokesperson in Pretoria stated: 'We are coordinating with the Ghanaian government to ensure the safety of their citizens. This is about protecting lives, not politics.'
The violence, triggered by anti-immigrant protests led by a group called Operation Dudula, has targeted mostly black African migrants. Ghana is not the only country affected. Malawi, Zimbabwe and Nigeria have also reported attacks on their nationals. But Ghana was the first to secure a mass evacuation.
Questions remain over why South Africa's police failed to contain the unrest. Internal memos obtained from the South African Police Service show a lack of resources and political will. 'We are stretched thin. The politicians don't care about foreigners,' a senior officer admitted on condition of anonymity.
The UK's role is likely to reignite debate about Britain's post-Brexit foreign policy. Critics say Whitehall is overstretching itself. Supporters argue it is a model of global Britain in action. The Ghanaian government has thanked the UK but stopped short of criticising South Africa publicly. Behind closed doors, however, diplomats are furious.
'This is a humiliation for the African Union. We are supposed to solve our own problems,' one AU official told me. 'Instead, we rely on the former colonial power to rescue our citizens.'
The evacuation is only the first phase. Hundreds more Ghanaians remain stranded, hiding in townships across Gauteng. An estimated 4,000 Ghanaians live in South Africa. Many have no passports or documentation. They cannot afford flights. And the UK has not yet committed to further evacuations.
For now, the lucky ones are those who made it onto that plane. They are the visible tip of a much larger crisis. South Africa's immigrant communities are in hiding. The protests are not over. And the British government is treading carefully. The money trail leads to opaque funding sources for Operation Dudula. I will follow that next.
