'Our teacher calls us amakwerekwere' – Ghanaian children born in SA recount abuse

Two Ghanaian children born in South Africa have narrated the ordeal they go through every day, living in the country where their immigrant parents gave birth to them.

The children, who said they have had enough and want to be evacuated to the country of their parents, narrated how they were attacked by South Africans on a daily basis.

One of the children, a boy, shared how his fellow students abused him with names like “amakwerekwere”, a derogatory, xenophobic slang term used in South Africa to refer to Black African foreign nationals and immigrants.

“Sometimes, they tell me that I look ugly, and they also call us foreigners, ‘amakwerekwere’… They also call us very bad, bad, bad words.

“I want to come to Ghana to learn new things and see what is happening there, learn our language there, and know the food there too,” the young boy said in an interview on Channel One TV on June 26, 2026.

He added, “They just bully us every day. Even my sister here says they bully her every day, they roast her, they say silly words to her, and it was not nice. I was feeling bad in my heart.”

His sister also narrated how even her teacher abused her and urged her classmates to do the same.

“Always in my class, my teacher calls me ‘amakwerekwere’... blames me that I have done something wrong, but I don’t. And she calls my classmate to (sic) my head, and I don’t know why.

“My classmates laugh at me for nothing… When my father comes over, she acts like nothing happens. I don’t know what is wrong with her,” she said.

The faces of the children and their father, who was with them, were blurred during the interview to protect them from further attacks.

They indicated that their parents were working on getting the necessary documents so they could return to Ghana.

'Thank Tinubu for what?' - Stranded Nigerians in South Africa lament

Watch the interview below:

“We want to come back to Ghana.”

WATCH: Children born to Ghanaian parents living in South Africa emotionally share their painful experiences in school, opening up about the discrimination and challenges they face from both students and teachers.

They made the appeal on… pic.twitter.com/uFRk4ybDF7

— CITI FM 97.3 (@Citi973) June 26, 2026

The power of Rawlings' legacy lies in its national character - Tsatsu Tsikata



MPs share excitement over Black Stars’ triumph against Panama