Nigeria has launched a voluntary repatriation scheme for more than 1,000 of its nationals living in South Africa, as a wave of anti-immigrant protests and violence prompts several African governments to evacuate their citizens from the country. Screening of Nigerians wishing to return home began on Thursday, according to foreign ministry spokesman Kimiebi Ebienfa, with the final number expected to be confirmed within days — and potentially reaching double the initial estimate. Nigeria's High Commission in Pretoria has secured assurances from South African authorities that those with immigration-related offences will not be arrested or detained ahead of their departure flights, removing a significant barrier for undocumented nationals who might otherwise fear coming forward.

Nigeria's move follows a similar effort by Ghana, which evacuated hundreds of its citizens from South Africa last week and is expected to charter additional flights soon. Mozambique has already received around 600 returnees who crossed the border independently, with authorities there planning to repatriate roughly a thousand more by road. Malawi has also announced plans to assist its citizens in leaving. The scale of these parallel evacuations reflects the breadth of the crisis: South Africa, the continent's most industrialised economy, hosts more than three million foreign nationals — around 5.1 percent of its population — with over 63 percent coming from within the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc.

The trigger for the current wave of departures is a sharp escalation in xenophobic hostility in recent weeks, including allegations of attacks, intimidation, arson, and looting targeting African migrants. A citizen-led pressure group has issued an ultimatum demanding that undocumented foreigners leave South Africa by 30 June, raising fears of further bloodshed; previous episodes of anti-immigrant unrest in the country have claimed dozens of lives. Mozambican authorities say at least nine of their nationals have died in the violence, though South African officials put the figure for Mozambican fatalities on their territory at two. Those fleeing describe indiscriminate targeting regardless of legal status. "They say they are against illegal immigrants, but I have a valid passport," said one Mozambican returnee who crossed into his home country with little more than a backpack.

South Africa's chronic unemployment rate — above 30 percent — has long fuelled resentment toward migrants, who are frequently accused of taking jobs from local workers. The South African government has said it is intensifying enforcement against undocumented arrivals but has urged its citizens not to resort to vigilante action. Critics across the continent, however, have pointed to a deeper contradiction: the gap between Africa's pan-African ideals of free movement and solidarity, and the harsh economic pressures that drive both migration and the backlash against it. As one Mozambican opposition figure asked pointedly at the border: "What have we done since independence to give our young people better economic opportunities? If there were jobs, no Mozambican would prefer to go and suffer in South Africa."