Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi has confirmed that 179 people were allowed to leave South Africa for Nigeria from Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Last week, a privately-owned aircraft, Air Peace volunteered to evacuate over 600 Nigerian nationals, wanting to return to their home country, following recent attacks on foreigners in Gauteng.
However, Motsoaledi says the flight was delayed due to problems experienced at check-in.
“The final figure of people who left on Wednesday was 179. When we were doing our exit controls we found that four were children. One was arrested for having a fraudulent South African visa. We couldn’t allow him to leave because he fraudulently obtained a visa. So, we handed him over to police. Only 179 ended up boarding that plane.”
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