15 errors out of 1,964 names of South Africa evacuees due to pressure, we deserve praise – High Commissioner
Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, has defended the handling of the evacuation of Ghanaians fleeing xenophobic attacks, arguing that errors identified in 15 of the 1,964 evacuees’ records should not overshadow the team’s efforts.
The discrepancies emerged after the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria acknowledged clerical mistakes in the records of 15 evacuees, following concerns raised by a data analysis over reintegration and transportation allowances paid to individuals whose recorded dates of birth appeared to be in the future.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, Mr Quashie said the errors occurred under considerable pressure as officials worked to evacuate affected Ghanaians and ensure their safe return home.
“If out of 1,964 and we’ve made errors in just 15 names, I think that we deserve a pat on the back, especially with the kind of pressure we had and how we had to quickly improvise and ensure that there was value for money,” he said.
“We had to quickly work around the clock to get them out of harm’s way and get them into Ghana,” he added.
Mr Quashie also rejected suggestions that the High Commission had provided misleading information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explaining that the records submitted to the ministry were obtained from South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA).
He said three agencies were involved in the evacuation process: South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, the BMA and the Ghana High Commission.
According to him, the BMA conducted the final screening of evacuees at the airport before their departure and subsequently provided the High Commission with documents containing their names, passport numbers, dates of birth and other personal information.
The documents, referred to as body receipts, were supplied in PDF format and could not be edited by the High Commission, he explained.
Mr Quashie said officials later discovered clerical errors involving the transposition of dates in some passport records, particularly dates of birth and passport expiry dates.
He added that the High Commission contacted the BMA after identifying the discrepancies and was informed that the errors had been corrected by the South African authority.
“The information that we had is what we gave to the Ministry, and sincerely and fairly, the Ministry only spoke to the document that we sent to them. And that document came from the Border Management Authority of South Africa,” he said.
Although he maintained that the High Commission could not alter the original documents provided by the BMA, Mr Quashie accepted responsibility for the errors identified in the records and said the matter had been raised with the South African authority.
The evacuation exercise was organised to bring Ghanaians affected by xenophobic attacks in South Africa back to safety in Ghana.