{"id":36365,"date":"2026-06-05T21:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=36365"},"modified":"2026-06-05T21:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:44:06","slug":"more-than-a-thousand-nigerians-seek-return-from-sa-after-attacks","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/more-than-a-thousand-nigerians-seek-return-from-sa-after-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"More than a thousand Nigerians seek return from SA after attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At least 1 094 Nigerians have registered interest in voluntary return from \u200cSouth Africa (SA) following xenophobic attacks, up from 130 previously seeking repatriation, with a joint screening process under way to determine eligibility, Nigerian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Kimiebi Ebienfa said this \u2060Friday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The screening by Foreign Ministry officials from both countries and SA immigration and police will conclude on Saturday, with only those cleared to be repatriated and final numbers and flights set thereafter, Ebienfa told <em>Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>SA authorities have agreed to waive penalties for visa \u200cviolations \u2060such as overstays, though individuals facing criminal charges will not be eligible to leave, Ebienfa said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria submitted its list for clearance ahead of Ghana, \u2060but Ghana was prioritised, Ebienfa said, adding Ethiopia is next after Nigeria, with repatriation logistics to be \u2060set once screening is complete.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria has condemned violence against its citizens in SA, \u2060including the deaths of two nationals allegedly assaulted by security officials.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":36366,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-36365","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"At least 1 094 Nigerians have registered interest in voluntary return from \u200cSouth Africa","published_date":"2026-06-05 18:05:36","news_description":"At least 1 094 Nigerians have registered interest in voluntary return from \u200cSouth Africa","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36368,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36365\/revisions\/36368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=36365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}