I left my wife and twins behind - why this Nigerian man fled South Africa

Nigerian Richard Itoro is not sure when he will see his twin children again. Fearing for his safety as the anti-migrant protests cranked up in South Africa this year, the 47-year-old left his family and business behind in Johannesburg and boarded one of the voluntary repatriation flights to Nigeria in June. His is just one of many experiences that is fuelling diplomatic tension and threatening to rupture relations between South Africa and other countries on the continent.

Tens of thousands of foreigners have left the country over the past two months. “It was painful for me to leave [the] person who’s my best friend,” Itoro tells the BBC, with tears welling up, as he reflects on saying goodbye to his South African wife. Over 15 years, he had built up a car dealership business, bought a home, and started a family.

Itoro became the target of harassment but his wife was not spared the intimidation. He says his neighbours told her: “You’re married to a Nigerian. Those of you who are married to Nigerians we are supposed to arrest you people.

Go and leave the country with your husband and don’t be here.” Itoro was baffled. “My family was just a small family, which was beautiful and peaceful. I had no issues with anybody.” The pressure became too much.

“If I go home and start all over again, it’s better than being here, being harassed, being scared for my life,” Itoro says. Marches calling for undocumented migrants to leave reached a crescendo at the end of June But, the businessman says, the Nigerian high commission would not let his wife and children travel with him. He describes how leaving felt like a movie where someone boards the last helicopter flight out of a besieged city.

“I wish I could have just begged the people from the embassy and said: ‘This is my wife, I can’t leave her behind and my kids,’ but I couldn’t. “So my car started departing and I wished I had told her not to cry.” The anti-migrant groups in South Africa said their protests were aimed at undocumented foreigners. The country’s outspoken Culture Minister, Gayton McKenzie, who leads one of the parties in the coalition government, also emphasised this point.