Returnees Recount Ordeals, Claim Migrants Treated Like Slaves In South Africa

Nigerian returnees have recounted their experiences in South Africa, describing years of hardship marked by limited opportunities, discrimination, uncertainty and recurring fears linked to xenophobic tensions.
The returnees, Emilia Godwin and Sandra Adeniyi, spoke to LEADERSHIP after arriving back in Nigeria, detailing what they said were the struggles faced by many foreign nationals attempting to build livelihoods in South Africa.
Godwin, who said she moved to South Africa in 2014, described her experience as one shaped by isolation, economic difficulty and a lack of institutional or community support.
“My name is Emilia Godwin. We had no one to speak for us,” she said, adding that...