Photo by Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images
With migration tensions boiling over and African nations pulling their ambassadors from South Africa’s showcase Africa Day event, President Cyril Ramaphosa signalled on Thursday that Pretoria is moving onto the diplomatic offensive — announcing plans to deploy special envoys across the continent and beyond to contain the fallout from a fresh outbreak of anti-immigrant violence.
The announcement came as Ramaphosa stood alongside Kenyan President William Ruto at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where Ruto was concluding a two-day state visit aimed at deepening ties between the two countries. Migration featured prominently in the bilateral talks as both leaders addressed growing concerns over anti-foreigner sentiment and tensions linked to undocumented migration in South Africa.
“There will be envoys, yes, there will be people that we will send around not only on the continent but also around the world,” Ramaphosa said.
The diplomatic push comes as the crisis deepens on multiple fronts. Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Nigeria have issued warnings to their nationals in South Africa, advising them to stay indoors and remain cautious during protests, while Ghana and Nigeria have made formal diplomatic complaints to Pretoria and have begun organising evacuation flights for hundreds of their citizens.  Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry went further, summoning South Africa’s envoy to raise direct concerns about attacks targeting its nationals.
Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has engaged with several African ambassadors in recent weeks and travelled to Ghana and Nigeria to meet his counterparts in those countries.  Ghana is also seeking to place the anti-migrant attacks on the agenda of the African Union, a move that would put South Africa under a harsh new international spotlight.
Ramaphosa pushed back against characterisations of the violence as systemic xenophobia, placing the blame squarely on what he called opportunists. “I explained that South Africans are not xenophobic. South Africans are Africans. They want to live with other Africans peacefully,” he said.
Still, the president acknowledged that migration required a co-ordinated multilateral response, not unilateral action. “What we seek to do is to get the issue of migration properly addressed… we should get as many key role players, countries, to work together,” he said.
Ramaphosa said South Africa is already consulting governments across the continent on migration management, seeking to understand how other countries have handled border pressures.  He did not say when the envoys would be dispatched or which countries would be prioritised.
The diplomatic manoeuvring follows days of spreading anti-foreigner protests, with flare-ups reported in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.  Analysts warn the backlash could damage South Africa’s trade and investment prospects, with some West African politicians calling for retaliation against South African retail and mobile phone companies operating across the continent.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah