Ghanaian entrepreneur Emmanuel Akuoko returns home after xenophobia shatters his South African dream
Emmanuel Akuoko did not return to Ghana with the success he had promised his family. Instead, he came back carrying the bitter feeling of having been forced to dismantle more than a decade of his life in just a few days.
Last Monday, the Ghanaian entrepreneur left South Africa on a repatriation flight organised by his country’s authorities. He had built his life there after arriving in 2014, following a mathematics degree from Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Like many others, he followed colleagues who had moved to South Africa, drawn by professional opportunities and the country’s reported demand for mathematics teachers.
But his journey gradually collided with administrative obstacles and a growing hostile climate toward African migrants.
In 2018, Akuoko says he lost his legal immigration status while working in the public education sector. Unable to continue teaching, he turned to hairdressing and opened his own salon. He says South African authorities failed to renew the residency documents needed to continue his stay. According to other migrants’ accounts, this situation is not unique, with some Nigerian nationals also reporting prolonged difficulties renewing their immigration permits.
