Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie has defended the government’s decision to evacuate Ghanaian nationals from South Africa, insisting the move was necessary to protect citizens amid continued violence, looting, and insecurity targeting foreign nationals.
He made the remarks during an interview on Citi Eyewitness News on Thursday, May 28, in response to comments by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, who had criticised the evacuation as unnecessary and diplomatically damaging.
Benjamin Quashie said Ghana engaged South African authorities extensively in an effort to resolve the situation, urging law enforcement agencies to take firm action against individuals involved in attacks and looting.
“I would want to disagree with Hon Julius Malema because we gave the government of South Africa the opportunity for us to resolve this issue,” he said.
He explained that Ghana had called for stronger enforcement of the law to prevent individuals from taking matters into their own hands, but said the situation on the ground did not improve.
According to Quashie, repeated incidents showed that the same groups were involved in attacks across different locations, raising concerns about the effectiveness of interventions at the time.
“If you realise when these demonstrators started, the faces that were on our screens every day moving from shops to shops, from province to province, were the same people,” he said.
Quashie added that Ghana had expected South African authorities to demonstrate stronger commitment by making arrests and halting the recurring attacks, but that did not happen.
“We were expecting the government of South Africa to show good faith, but they never arrested anybody. The demonstrators continued doing what they were doing, they continued looting, they continued harassing people,” he stated.
The envoy stressed that the decision to evacuate Ghanaians was ultimately taken at the highest level in Ghana, prioritising the safety of citizens affected by the unrest.
He said the evacuation had been well received by those who returned, adding that many appeared relieved to be back home.
“The decision was with the President of the Republic of Ghana as to what he has to do for his citizens, and I think that decision to evacuate citizens from here, you will see on the faces of those who arrived in Accra yesterday that these were people who were happy to be back home,” Quashie said.
He maintained that, in his view, the evacuation was the right course of action under the circumstances.
“I believe to a large extent what we did was in the right direction,” he added.
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