How South Africa refused me entry but allowed Europeans without Visa — BUA Boss

The Founder and Chairman of the BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, has narrated his experience of being denied entry into South Africa because his visa had expired the day before the journey.

The founder made this disclosure during an event on Thursday themed, ‘Africa at Scale: Capital, Policy and the Architecture of Growth’, which is part of the current Africa CEO Forum happening in Kigali, Rwanda.

He explained the event happened in February 2025 after traveling to Cape Town from Lagos to attend a conference called ‘Mining Indaba’.

The Nigerian entrepreneur stated that upon arrival, they discovered his visa had expired a day earlier. He further revealed that he and his group remained stuck in the airport for close to four hours before going back to Lagos.

“I take full responsibility because my visa had expired and my crew failed to notice it before the trip,” he said.

However, the businessman said he became concerned after noticing that passengers arriving on multiple flights from Europe were allowed into South Africa without visas while he, as an African, was denied entry.

“While we were waiting at the immigration desk, there were about three international flights from Europe. Most of the passengers were Europeans, and they all entered Cape Town without visas,” he said.

Rabiu said the experience highlighted the difficulties Africans still face when travelling within the continent despite ongoing talks about African integration and economic cooperation.

“I did not have a problem with being returned because I had no valid visa. My issue was being an African in Africa and being denied entry, while foreigners from other continents were allowed in freely without visas,” he said.

He called for reforms in visa and immigration policies across the continent, stressing that Africa cannot achieve meaningful economic integration while Africans continue to face barriers moving within African countries.