Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, has firmly rejected claims by South African immigration authorities that the majority of Ghanaian nationals who were evacuated on Wednesday, May 27, were living in the country illegally.

Head of Immigration and Law Enforcement at South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, Stephen van Neel, said officials had uncovered widespread immigration irregularities among the evacuees.

“Of the 300 individuals that were on that list, we only found 10 of them being legal in the country,” Mr Van Neel stated.

Van Neel indicated that the remaining individuals were either undocumented, non-compliant with immigration regulations, or had overstayed their permits.

READ ALSO: SA officials claim only 10 of nearly 300 Ghanaian migrants repatriated were legally in the country

But Mr Quashie described the figures as inaccurate and misleading, insisting that a significant majority of the evacuees were legally resident in South Africa.

He maintained that about 80 per cent of the 300 Ghanaians who formed part of the first batch of the evacuation exercise were lawful migrants engaged in legitimate employment and residency arrangements.

"It is absolutely not true, out of the 300 people that came to Ghana, 80 per cent (were legal migrants)."

Mr Quashie said he had formally engaged South African authorities and requested that the reported figures be retracted, arguing that they do not reflect the true status of the evacuees.

"I have told him (van Neel) that it is either he retracts the statement or I put out the fact," he noted.

He also disclosed that over 400 evacuees will arrive in the country over the weekend or in the coming week.