Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by / Thuso Khumalo & Ana Shorter
00:20 Fedrick / Ghanaian migrant
00:51 Benjamin Quashie / Ghana High Commissioner to South Africa

Script:

Ghanaians assemble at Ghana's diplomatic mission in Pretoria, to leave their life in South Africa behind. 
 
It's the first batch of around 300 people who want to leave because of the growing anti immigrant protests. 

+++ SOT Fedrick: person leaving +++
"I have been here 13 years // Based on the current situation of constant xenophobic attacks or harrassment from the south african people, I felt there is a need to for me to go home."  

Buses stand ready to drive the migrants and all their belongings to the airport, for repatriation flights organised by Ghanaian authorities. 

The Ghanaian High Commissioner says hundreds more want to leave and that the government plans help them reintegrate into Ghanaian society.  

+++ Benjamin Quashie, Ghana High Commissioner to South Africa +++
"These are proud Ghanaians, proud citizens of Ghana, proud inidividuals who are holding their head high. they were here doing legitimate business some documented, others undocumented. I believe that the discourse is not about them being problematic  residents in this country. We have gone through all the processes none has been found to have a criminal record and for me that makes me proud." 

Anti-immigrant groups accuse migrants from other African countries of driving up crime. They say that many of the migrants are in South Africa illegally.  

Anti-immigrant protests  like the one organised by Operation Dudula and March and March are becoming more widespread and ever louder.
And as the South African economy struggles - with unemployment at around 30 percent - they say that migrants are adding to the country's problems... A message that resonates with many South Africans.

South Africa's democratic laws allow people to gather and protest - but authories have condemned the violence against migrants. 
The government says the xenophobic attacks don't have a place in South Africa. 

At the airport in Johanesburg, the Ghanaians wait to fly home. 
Many other African countries are advising their citizens to be careful in South Africa, as tensions there rise.

The anti-immigrant protest groups are demanding that all undocumented migrants leave the country by the end of June. And they are threatening a nationwide strike if this does not happen.   

END