Richard Itoro, a 47-year-old Nigerian businessman, fled Johannesburg for Nigeria in June on a voluntary repatriation flight after anti-migrant protests intensified, leaving behind his South African wife and twin children. His departure illustrates a wider exodus of tens of thousands of foreigners from South Africa in recent months, a trend that is straining diplomatic relations between South Africa and other African nations amid mounting reports of harassment and intimidation targeting migrants and their families.

Itoro had spent 15 years building a car-dealership business, buying a home and raising a family in Johannesburg, but says he and his wife were harassed by neighbours over their marriage, with threats that she should "leave with her husband". He says his legal residency documents did not shield him from hostility, and Nigerian officials say other legally resident Nigerians have also been attacked. Tensions rose further after a Nigerian man died during a police arrest over suspected drug offences, prompting an independent investigation, while South Africa's government insists it retains the sovereign right to enforce its immigration laws.