The South African authorities have  said Nigerians and other African countries will soon start paying for the deportation of their citizens.

The spokesperson for the South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO),  Chrispin Phiri, stated this during an interview with SABC on June 9, amid xenophobic attacks that saw Afrian countries evacuating their citizens from the rainbow nation.

“Moving forward we will also be billing countries for their foreign nationals who have to be deported or who are in our criminal detention facilities and have to be deported back into their countries,” said Mr Phiri.

He added, “At least now we can see that there’s capacity for countries to extract the foreign nationals who have fallen foul of the law. That’s something that through the department of home affairs we will pursue as a government.”

This declaration comes as Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi and governments of African nations have evacuating their citizens from South Africa over attacks.

South Africans hit the streets, attacking fellow Africans and asking them to leave their country, because they take their jobs and women.

Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa in a broadcast warned South Africans against harassing people on the streets and demanding proof of their nationality, vowing crackdown on those behind raging xenophobia in the country.

However, xenophobic attacks have gone unchecked as security agents look away while South Africans attack other African migrants, giving them a June 30 deadline to leave their country.