From Ghana to Brazzaville, criticism of South Africa’s handling of migration is growing as governments, business leaders and citizens question whether the country that once embodied African solidarity is turning its back on fellow Africans. The backlash is beginning to take tangible form.
The Republic of Congo this week announced voluntary repatriation flights for vulnerable Congolese nationals in South Africa, citing concerns about their welfare. Malawi has been assisting citizens seeking to return home from Durban.
In Ghana, the Ghana-South Africa Business Chamber has condemned attacks on foreign nationals, while demonstrators have targeted South African-owned businesses and demanded that companies publicly distance themselves from the violence.
South African ministers have found themselves increasingly responding to concerns raised beyond the country’s borders.
For Emmanuel K Dogbevi, the editor of Ghana Business News, many Ghanaians are no longer viewing developments in South Africa as a debate about undocumented migration.
“Most people view the actions of some of South Africa’s citizens against immigrants as xenophobic and Afrophobic,” Dogbevi told the Mail & Guardian.
“They are quite displeased with that. Some are literally very angry.”
Dogbevi said many Ghanaians believe concerns about undocumented migration should be addressed by immigration authorities and law-enforcement agencies rather than private citizens.
But he said the strength of the reaction was rooted in history.
“The fact that other African countries supported black South Africans under apartheid and helped them in the fight against apartheid should have been enough to elicit some respect and humanity from these South African citizens,” he said.
For many Ghanaians, support for South Africa’s liberation struggle remains a source of national pride. The site occupied by Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs once housed South African exiles and freedom fighters during apartheid.
That history continues to shape how events unfolding in South Africa are viewed.
The issue has also moved beyond migrants themselves and into the realm of business.
“The argument is that their silence means they are complicit,” Dogbevi said of calls for South African companies operating in Ghana to condemn attacks on foreign nationals.
That shift is significant. Anger over events in South Africa is no longer directed only at those accused of carrying out attacks but increasingly at South African institutions and brands operating on the continent.
South African corporates have also been drawn into the debate. In a statement issued this week, Standard Bank said it “rejects xenophobia in all its forms” and reaffirmed its commitment to dignity, inclusion and mutual respect.
The bank said that while it was founded in South Africa, it was “an African organisation with deep local roots across the continent” and said it was monitoring developments closely while remaining focused on the safety of employees and clients.
Yet there is another view.
Political analyst Donovan Williams believes South Africa is suffering reputational damage but the continent risks oversimplifying a far more complex problem. Williams cautioned against viewing the issue solely through the prism of xenophobia.
“There are serious socio-economic problems, not just in South Africa but on the continent,” he said.
South Africa’s relatively larger economy, labour protections, constitutional freedoms and social support systems continue to attract migrants from elsewhere in Africa, he said. He said failures in governance, border management and law enforcement had fuelled public frustration and created space for migration to become a focal point for wider grievances.
Williams also warned against simplistic interpretations of reactions elsewhere on the continent. “There is a lot of theatre being played out by countries on the continent to paint South Africa in a particular way for their own reasons,” he said.
The competing narratives lie at the heart of Pretoria’s challenge.
Government insists its focus is on undocumented migration, border management and the enforcement of immigration laws. Critics elsewhere on the continent see xenophobia.
That gap in perception appears to be widening.
This week, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola engaged World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus after concerns were raised about xenophobia in South Africa.
In a public statement after the engagement, Lamola said immigration enforcement was the responsibility of state authorities and not private citizens.
He reiterated that South Africa condemned violence directed at foreign nationals and said migration pressures required a broader continental response.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has also sought to calm tension.
Speaking at a meeting with religious and interfaith leaders at the Union Buildings this week, he said illegal immigration was not the cause of South Africa’s social and economic difficulties. “Migration is not the cause of our problems but it is something that we must manage constructively and collectively, always holding firm to our constitutional principles and shared values.”
Ramaphosa urged South Africans not to allow frustration to be turned into hatred and called for foreign nationals to be treated with dignity.
But concern inside government appears to extend beyond diplomacy.
Inter-ministerial committee on migration chairperson Mmamoloko Kubayi recently said South African artists were beginning to lose opportunities elsewhere on the continent.
“A majority of South African artists perform on the continent and many of them are seeing their gigs being cancelled,” she said.
Kubayi said government was assisting South African companies that had been affected by the backlash. “We do believe that it can not only hurt the brand but can hurt our social cohesion,” she warned.
While Standard Bank did not indicate that its operations had been affected, its intervention underscores the sensitivity of the issue for South African companies with footprints elsewhere on the continent.
Her remarks might be the clearest indication yet that government believes the consequences are beginning to move beyond politics and into economic and cultural relationships.
Organised labour has also entered the debate. In a rare joint intervention this week, Cosatu, Fedusa, Nactu and Saftu rejected attempts to blame migrants for South Africa’s economic problems and warned against vigilantism. The federations argued that corruption, unemployment, weak governance and economic stagnation — not migrants — lay at the heart of South Africa’s challenges.
But South Africa’s position carries a particular sensitivity.
During the apartheid years, thousands of South Africans found refuge, education and support across the continent. Many African countries paid a political and economic price for standing with South Africa’s liberation movement.
For many South Africans, today’s debate is about jobs, crime, border control and pressure on public services. For many elsewhere on the continent, it has become something more fundamental.
The question is no longer simply how South Africa manages migration. It is whether the country that once sought refuge across Africa sees itself as part of a shared African project.