African countries including Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe have urged their citizens in South Africa to stay cautious and remain indoors amid attacks targeting foreigners, while Ghana has called on the African Union to intervene.
South Africa has been gripped by a wave of protests against illegal immigration, with tensions spilling into violence against migrants from other sub-Saharan African nations in the continent’s largest economy.
Migrant rights groups say foreigners are being scapegoated by South Africans who blame them for the country’s economic problems, particularly unemployment, which stands at more than 30% and disproportionately affects the Black population.
Ghana said Wednesday it had facilitated the safe return of a citizen who was targeted in a video that went viral, while Nigeria said it was repatriating at least 130 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 demanding to see his documents before questioning their authenticity.
“We don’t want you here,” one woman said.
Daniel Chapo met Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday and called for calm, while Ghana’s government wrote to the African Union urging it to address the issue.
The other countries issued warnings in statements to their citizens.
Xenophobic attacks in South Africa have flared periodically over the years. The vigilante group Operation Dudula has led campaigns against undocumented migrants, at times blocking them from entering public health facilities.
The government has condemned the violence while also expressing sympathy for citizens frustrated by illegal immigration.
“South Africans are within their rights to protest against the spiraling 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 Thursday.
South Africa’s immigrant population has risen steadily over the past few decades, increasing from 2% of the total population in 1996 to 4% in 2022, according to the national statistics agency, Stats SA.
Most immigrants are from the Southern African Development Community region, the agency said.
