The Federal Government has begun moves to seek compensation from the South African government for businesses and properties abandoned by Nigerians returning home amid renewed anti-immigrant tensions in the country.
Alexander Ajayi, Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television, saying the government would ensure that Nigerians forced to leave their investments behind are not left to bear the losses alone.
Ajayi said the compensation effort would follow the ongoing voluntary repatriation of Nigerians who chose to return home ahead of the June 30 deadline issued by some South African rights groups calling on undocumented migrants to leave the country.
According to him, the government has started documenting businesses and other assets left behind by returnees as part of plans to formally engage the South African authorities.
“In terms of the businesses, just three days ago, myself and the South African deputy minister of foreign affairs were together, and we were discussing this,” Ajayi said.
“I took up the discussion with her, and we have agreed that we are going to ask our people who are returning to begin to document what they are leaving behind.”
He explained that returnees had been instructed to provide detailed information about their abandoned assets before departing South Africa.
“I have asked them before they left yesterday to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable properties,” he said.
Ajayi said the records would form the basis of discussions with the South African government to identify the affected properties and explore compensation.
“We can now take it up with the South African government. That is the next step we are going to take,” he said.
“So, this repatriation will not end with just taking people to Nigeria. We are going to systematically follow up on the information given to us.”
He added that returnees had been urged to ensure the information submitted was accurate because the Nigerian government intended to work with South African authorities to verify the locations of the affected businesses and properties.
“…We are going to work with the South African government to get to the exact locations of all these businesses, shops and properties and present them to the South African government for possible compensation because we will not allow the labour people have suffered to build over the years to just go down the drain or be taken over by people,” Ajayi said.
The latest repatriation exercise comes amid renewed xenophobic tensions in South Africa, where attacks targeting African migrants, particularly Nigerians, Ghanaians and Zimbabweans, have intensified amid claims that foreigners are taking jobs from locals.
On Tuesday, another batch of repatriated Nigerians arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos from Johannesburg. It was the second official evacuation coordinated by the Nigerian government after 258 evacuees were flown home aboard a chartered Air Peace flight on June 11. A separate group of 66 returnees had also arrived on June 24.
Ajayi noted that those returning did so voluntarily ahead of planned anti-immigrant protests and added that most Nigerians residing in South Africa were undocumented.
Meanwhile, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday appealed for peaceful demonstrations, warning that while citizens have a constitutional right to protest, anyone who resorts to violence or other criminal acts would be dealt with according to the law.
