Xenophobia in S’Africa: When greener pastures turn deadly

They left Nigeria chasing greener pastures but returned from South Africa with scars, shattered businesses and painful memories of xenophobic attacks. Among them is Chidi Francis, whose eight-year search for a better life in Johannesburg ended with an injured eye, the loss of his livelihood and a sad return home, writes WALE AKINSELURE

When Chidi Francis stepped off Flight SA060 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the dark glasses covering his left eye concealed more than an injury. They concealed the scars of eight years in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2018, Chidi had left Nnewi, Anambra State, for Johannesburg, South Africa, full of hope and in search of greener pastures. He left Nigeria with a clear mission: “Get there, hustle and make it big.” Determined to reach his ‘dreamland’, Chidi then convinced some of his brothers and was able to raise $2,000, which he used to process his visa and other travel documents, costing over N2m. It was a dream come true when Chidi, with so much glee, arrived in Johannesburg in May 2018. For the first six months, Chidi hustled from Bloemfontein to Pretoria, from Ekurhuleni to Randburg, while squatting with a Nigerian brother who sold phones.

After six months, he raised enough money to rent a small shop for R2,500 a month and began selling groceries. His business experienced a boom until he became buoyant enough to buy a shop of his own. At that point, he began to believe that his years of struggle were finally paying off. South Africa looked greener than his homeland, just as he had envisaged. The better life he yearned for appeared to have become a reality. With a better life looking assured, a better half was needed. Chidi subsequently met and married Tariro, a Zimbabwean woman, who later had two boys for him. Sales were booming, and the shop was expanding enough to take care of his family. Then, the attacks came.

His shop was broken into, and his goods were taken. He would restock in a bid to pick up again, but the attacks and robberies recurred. Chidi recounted that not only was his shop broken into, he was also robbed at gunpoint while walking across the area. During the attacks, he said, the robbers repeatedly told him to leave their country. He said the attackers claimed that the shop “did not have a permit” and told him to “go back to his country But Chidi said he was not the only target, adding that other African migrants were also attacked. “They came to my shop to chase me away. They packed everything. They broke into the shop. They broke many shops. They took all the goods. It was not only my shop but many other shops. They targeted Nigerians as well as every other foreigner,” he said.

In trying to fight back during one of the attacks, Chidi was dealt a heavy blow to his left eye, an injury he still nurses. He uses dark glasses to cover the injured eye. But Chidi counts himself lucky to have survived more than five attacks. “I was attacked physically more than five times. Three people came with guns to rob me. They asked me to surrender everything I had, or they would shoot me. So, you have to give them everything you have.

“On a particular day, I was going home with a brother of mine and his girlfriend, and three people stopped us. My brother was trying to run away, and they shot him dead, while they robbed me. The xenophobes kill people regularly. Even last week, they still killed people in my area,” Chidi narrated.

Forced home

Chidi is one of thousands of Nigerians who have left the country over the past two decades in search of better economic opportunities. In 2023, the Nigeria Immigration Service disclosed that over 3.6 million Nigerians had migrated to other countries within a space of two years. Most of the migrants were reported to have left in search of better opportunities overseas due to economic hardship, while some secured admission for further studies.

Chidi and several Nigerians had taken the South African route to escape frustration and hardship in their country. However, the resurgence of xenophobic attacks in South Africa has pressured Chidi and other Nigerians to seek refuge back home. Chidi is one of 1,821 Nigerians who have been evacuated from South Africa by the Federal Government since June 10, 2026, with the support of other groups and individuals. He was among 105 Nigerians who arrived in Lagos aboard South African Airways Flight SA060 at about 8:30 pm on Thursday. The evacuation of Chidi and 99 others was funded by the $265,854 donation made by the Redeemed Christian Church of God towards the purchase of one-way tickets for the evacuation of 500 distressed Nigerians from South Africa. The latest return of 105 Nigerians constituted the 13th consular evacuation from South Africa since the exercise began on June 10, 2026. For Chidi and the other returnees, however, the flight home was more than a journey. It was a return from lives they had spent years building. Chidi and other returnees have painful tales of their sojourn in South Africa.

Hovering spirit of death

Several returnees, including Vivian Ogbeneochuko from Delta State, who spent 13 years in South Africa and Christian Okafor, from Anambra State, who spent 10 years, described the xenophobic attacks they witnessed as “terrible”. The Nigerian Consulate-General in Johannesburg, on Monday, confirmed that three Nigerians were killed in separate incidents across South Africa between Friday and Monday. Nigeria’s Consul-General in Johannesburg, Ninikanwa Okey-Uche, named three Nigerian nationals, namely Kenechukwu Igwemmadu, Olaniyi Olatunde and Christian Nnaemeka, as the latest victims of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.  Igwemmadu died on Sept. 18 after jumping from a building while attempting to escape alleged police harassment and brutality at the Kenlin Court on Douglas Street, Bloemfontein. Olatunde, a Nigerian security guard, was allegedly shot by an unidentified South African, following an argument over a cup belonging to Spanata Bar and Grills Night Club in Mamelodi East, Pretoria. Nnaemeka was reported to have died on Sept. 21, following an alleged encounter with South African politician and investigative content creator, Xolani Khumalo, and members of his Sizok’thola team in Primrose, Ekurhuleni.

Vivian has returned to Nigeria as a single mother. She likened her return to the country to being delivered from the “spirit of death” that constantly hung over her while in South Africa. Narrating her experience with sobs, she said, “I was in South Africa for 13 years. I had a bad experience. The xenophobic attack we faced was very terrible. I want to thank President Bola Tinubu and Pastor Enoch Adeboye for bringing us out of South Africa. South Africa is like a spirit of death. That we came out alive is not by our power but by the grace of God. We saw a lot of things, but we give God the glory.”

Christian Okafor, from Anambra State, spent about a decade in South Africa. He also described his experience as “terrible and critical”, saying those behind the attacks repeatedly told them, “You must go back to where you came from.” Okafor said, “I had a terrible experience in South Africa. A lot of Nigerians are dying in South Africa. They don’t want us. What we went through in South Africa was critical. Without this help, how do we come back home?”

For Chidi, Vivian and Okafor, the rescue by the Federal Government, the Redeemed Christian Church of God and other well-meaning individuals and organisations came at a crucial point, as they said they had reached rock bottom and could no longer afford the cost of flying home. Chased out of their businesses, Chidi said they had no savings left. “You can’t save money. Do you know how many times I was robbed? So, I was waiting for help because I had no transport money to return home. When I saw the opportunity to come back home, I quickly cashed in on the opportunity.

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“I didn’t have anything anymore. They burnt my things, my shop, and destroyed many things that I had. After they had taken everything, there was nothing more to do, so I decided it was better to go back home,” Chidi said.

While the wait for rescue lasted, Chidi said he constantly looked over his shoulder, unsure of whether he was about to be struck by a club.

Living amid fear that death was lurking also affected his health, he said. “My blood pressure is presently 185. I still checked just before being brought back home. I fell more than four times inside my shop. Last week, people fell where they stayed and were confirmed dead after they were rushed to the hospital,” Chidi said. He is back in Anambra alone after asking his Zimbabwean wife to return to Zimbabwe with their two children.

His determination now is to hustle and pick up his life again before bringing his wife and two boys back.

Chidi, Vivian and Okafor, who left Nigeria with high hopes in search of greener pastures, expressed regrets over their experiences but remained determined to rebuild their lives. “It is a curse going to South Africa. I regret going there. I wasted a lot of money to go there. The government should not allow our brothers to go to South Africa again. A lot of people have been killed. People are killed almost every day. “Even when we were at the airport en route to Nigeria, we saw video of another Nigerian killed that day. His wife is a South African. The woman was crying, ‘They killed my husband; who will train my kids?’” Chidi said.

‘Why attacks persist’

But why have xenophobic attacks persisted despite repeated government interventions? The Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Egbosa Osaghae, said the problem was not peculiar to South Africa, noting that anti-immigrant rhetoric and sentiments were increasing globally. He attributed such hostility partly to internal conditions in countries, including unemployment, the cost of living and citizens’ perception that governments were not meeting their expectations. “If, for instance, unemployment rates are high, people feel cheated by government, and so on, they would always want to push to have very tough policies on migrants,” Osaghae said.

He noted that the attacks were not restricted to Nigerians but affected other African migrants, adding that their concentration in informal economic activities could make them particularly vulnerable. “Things like the informal sector, things like street trading and those things that don’t require very strong skills and expertise. Those might be the sectors that they target,” he said. According to Osaghae, understanding the attacks therefore requires examining South Africa’s internal political economy, including employment and living conditions.

On what the Nigerian government should do to protect its citizens abroad, Osaghae said Nigerians must comply with the laws of their host countries, while the government should intervene when citizens are specifically targeted because of hostility towards them.

“Every Nigerian that finds himself or herself outside the country should respect the laws of wherever they find themselves,” he said. “But it is when Nigerians are targeted in a manner that shows that this is hatred or hostility towards Nigerians, that the government can intervene in a manner that seeks to protect the interests of our citizens.”

He said diplomatic engagement remained important, pointing to the Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission as one of the platforms through which both countries could address their differences. “A lot is going on that is not being reported,” Osaghae said, stressing that Nigeria and South Africa needed to maintain cordial relations because of their importance to the continent. “So, it’s in every person’s interest that we work together with South Africa. It’s in South Africa’s interest that they work together with Nigeria. So, that is the ultimate solution.”

Government’s assurance

Following the arrival of the latest batch of Nigerians from South Africa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its spokesperson, Oluwafemi Adeniyi, said the Federal Government remained committed to pursuing diplomatic efforts and other measures to secure the cooperation of South African authorities in addressing xenophobia and Afrophobia and ensuring the safety, security and dignity of Nigerians resident in the country.

“The Federal Government once again assures Nigerians in the diaspora that protecting their lives, rights, welfare, and dignity remains a priority, and that it will always deploy appropriate diplomatic and consular measures to assist them whenever circumstances warrant,” the ministry stated. It urged Nigerians resident in South Africa to remain vigilant and law-abiding and maintain contact with the Nigeria High Commission in Pretoria and the Consulate General of Nigeria in Johannesburg for consular assistance whenever required.

For Chidi, however, diplomacy is now a matter for those still in South Africa. He has returned to Anambra, where another hustle awaits. Eight years after leaving Nigeria in search of a better life, he is starting again, this time determined not to leave home. “This is my home. Nobody can chase me away,” Chidi said.