Ghanaian President John Mahama has intensified his calls for the African Union (AU) to address the escalating wave of anti-immigrant violence in South Africa.
Simultaneously, two Ghanaian nationals have petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate “repeated xenophobic attacks” within the country. The South African government in Pretoria has dismissed this legal move as “opportunistic.”
South Africa, a long-term destination for both documented and undocumented African laborers, has been destabilized by weeks of unrest. Protesters have targeted immigrants, accusing them of depleting local resources and seizing employment opportunities.
The violence has led to the exodus of over 160,000 foreign nationals and resulted in several deaths over the last two months. The rise in hostility toward undocumented migrants has placed significant strain on South Africa’s diplomatic relations with other African nations.
Ghana first advocated for an AU debate on the crisis in May. President Mahama noted that AU Commission chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf had acknowledged the “urgent need” to include the issue on the agenda for the bloc’s upcoming summit in February.
“Placing this on the AU agenda provides South Africa with a formal and constructive platform to share its perspective, allowing us to work together as a continent toward a lasting solution,” Mahama stated in a social media post on Thursday.
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During talks with the AU chief on the sidelines of a meeting in Accra on Wednesday, Mahama expressed frustration, stating, “it doesn’t appear that the South African authorities are responding to the magnitude that one would expect them to.”
He further alleged that the financiers of these xenophobic attacks are known to authorities yet remain free to operate, as reported by Ghanaian media.
Mahama warned that the AU must take a keen interest in the situation, as it possesses the “potential to wreck everything that we have worked for, African solidarity, African integration.”
Chairperson Youssouf confirmed that the violence is a “big source of concern” for the commission. He noted a previous meeting with South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola, who asserted that illegal migration should be managed through established legal channels.
However, Youssouf added that despite these assurances, “we see that these people who are harassing our African fellow citizens are free to do what they want.”
‘No ill will’
In an ICC petition filed on July 15, former government spokesperson Palgrave Boakye-Danquah and counterterrorism analyst Emmanuel Kotin alleged that South African authorities failed to protect foreign nationals from hate speech and unlawful killings.
The petition claims a “failure of state authorities to prevent, investigate, and prosecute these acts, amounting to acquiescence and potential state responsibility.”
Tensions were further highlighted earlier this month when Ghana postponed a scheduled visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa to Accra following the death of a Ghanaian citizen. South African officials denied that the death was connected to the anti-immigrant unrest.
South African government spokesperson Chrispin Phiri rejected the ICC petition, stating it did not meet the necessary threshold for investigation and emphasizing that the country maintains laws to prosecute hate speech and hate crimes.
In an effort to mend ties, President Ramaphosa dispatched Foreign Minister Lamola to meet with President Mahama earlier this week.
Mahama informed the minister that while Ghana harbors “no ill will toward South Africa,” it remains “deeply concerned” by the attacks and the significant financial losses suffered by affected African nationals.
