Several African nations, including Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe, have issued warnings to their citizens in South Africa, urging them to exercise caution and remain indoors amid a surge of attacks targeting foreign nationals. Ghana has also formally appealed to the African Union regional bloc for intervention.
South Africa, home to the continent’s largest economy, has recently experienced a wave of anti-immigrant protests, which have frequently escalated into violence against migrants from other sub-Saharan African countries. Migrant rights organisations contend that these communities are being unfairly scapegoated for the nation’s severe economic challenges, particularly its unemployment rate, which stands at over 30 per cent and disproportionately affects the Black population.
In response to the escalating situation, Ghana confirmed on Wednesday that it had facilitated the safe return of a citizen who was seen being targeted in a widely circulated video. Similarly, Nigeria announced plans to repatriate at least 130 of its citizens following the deaths of two Nigerians.
Ghana’s statement did not identify the incident it was referring to, but one video circulating on social media showed a Ghanaian man being harassed by a crowd of people who demanded to see his papers and then questioned their authenticity. “We don’t want you here,” one woman says.
Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo met South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday and called for calm, while Ghana’s government wrote to the African Union asking it to take up the issue.
The other countries issued their warnings in statements to their citizens.
Xenophobic attacks in South Africa have flared up periodically. The vigilante group Operation Dudula has led campaigns against undocumented migrants, including at times blocking them from entering public health facilities.
The government has condemned the violence while also expressing sympathy for its citizens’ frustration over illegal immigration.
“South Africans are within their right to protest against the spiralling illegal immigration challenge, but violence linked to those protests … is not acceptable and law enforcement must deal with the instigators of such violence,” a cabinet statement said on Thursday.
South Africa’s immigrant population has seen a steady rise over the past few decades, increasing from 2% of the total population in 1996 to 4% in 2022, according to a report from the national statistics agency Stats SA. Most of them are from the Southern African Development Community region, it said.
