10/7/2026
Uganda has begun issuing national IDs to South Africa returnees, including more than 200 children born abroad, to help them access public services and reintegrate into society.
More than 200 children born in South Africa have returned to Uganda under the government’s voluntary repatriation programme, with authorities moving to register them and other returnees for national identity cards to ease their resettlement.
The latest group arrived on Thursday night when the sixth and final evacuation flight under Phase I landed at Entebbe International Airport carrying 219 Ugandan nationals.
The latest arrivals bring the total number of Ugandans repatriated from South Africa to more than 900 following recent xenophobic attacks.
All returnees are undergoing orientation and rehabilitation at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi before returning to their communities.
On Thursday, officials from the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) set up a registration centre at the institute to enrol returnees who do not have national identity cards.
The exercise targets Ugandans who left the country decades ago before the national ID programme was introduced, as well as children born in South Africa.
Hellen Seku, the commissioner at the National Secretariat for Patriotism Corps (NSPC), said the registration is intended to help the returnees access government services and economic empowerment programmes.
“Some of these have been in South Africa for 20 or 30 years, others 50 years.
She said the IDs will enable the returnees to benefit from initiatives such as the Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga and the Youth Livelihood Programme.
We have programmes such as PDM, Emyooga and Youth funds among others. We encourage them to take up these programmes and even those who remain in South Africa to come back home,” Seku said.
NIRA official Darius Turyahikayo said the authority had already registered more than 410 returnees.
He added that officials are prioritising the registration of children who returned from South Africa.
So far we have registered over 410. We are trying to encourage the registration of babies and children, and we have registered all who have been returned. Over 200 children who were born in South Africa have been brought back and these know little to nothing about Uganda.”
They left before the national ID programme was rolled out. We therefore needed to bring NIRA officials here to register them, so that they can benefit from government programmes and other services.”
