KINSHASA, DRC — South Africa will send envoys across the African continent to build a coordinated migration management framework, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Thursday during talks with Democratic Republic of the Congo President Félix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa. The commitment marks a concrete operational step toward multilateral coordination on an issue Ramaphosa described as requiring collective continental action.
The bilateral meeting brought migration to the forefront alongside discussions of the Ebola outbreak and broader regional cooperation. Ramaphosa framed South Africa’s domestic challenge as inseparable from a wider continental problem. “The issue of migration cannot be handled by one country alone. We need to work together as African sister countries to investigate it and find solutions that will be fitting to the problem that we now have,” he stated.
South Africa’s government approach rests on three operational pillars: upholding constitutional protections for human rights, protecting all residents regardless of documentation status, and acknowledging legitimate citizen concerns about unemployment and poverty. Ramaphosa acknowledged that South Africans have been protesting against the presence of foreign nationals, yet insisted the state must safeguard everyone within its borders from violence and ensure compliance with the rule of law.
Recent nationwide demonstrations prompted security force deployment to maintain order while protecting vulnerable populations. Ramaphosa described the operation as ensuring “good order is observed” while guaranteeing that “the rights of all people, including foreign nationals, are respected, whether they are documented or not.” Managing public unrest while preventing harm to migrants is the core operational tension South Africa is navigating.
The President pointed to documentation as a practical foundation for any workable migration system. “All countries will say that they require that everyone who is in a country should be properly documented… because that in a way gives security [and] entrenches the rights of everyone,” he explained. That technical requirement, he suggested, should anchor the continental dialogue going forward.
Meanwhile, Tshisekedi acknowledged South Africa’s sovereign authority to manage its borders and immigration policy while calling for humanitarian implementation. The Congolese leader expressed confidence in South African leadership’s ability to balance competing interests. “We trust the wisdom of the South African authorities to be in favour of a more balanced attitude in line with the values of African solidarity, so that they can respect all the fundamental rights,” Tshisekedi said. He added that no single nation can succeed in isolation, positioning migration as a shared continental responsibility requiring coordinated action across borders and institutions.
The diplomatic engagement reflects growing recognition that migration pressures exceed what any one government can absorb. Ramaphosa reported that several African leaders had conveyed messages of support and cooperation, suggesting broader continental alignment on the need for coordinated responses. The envoy initiative is the operational next step in translating that alignment into concrete policy frameworks.
South Africa’s government has acknowledged the frustrations driving citizen protests while maintaining its commitment to protecting all residents. This dual focus defines the operational tension the country is attempting to resolve through both domestic policy and continental diplomacy. Whether the envoy deployments produce binding frameworks or remain consultative will determine how much practical weight the initiative carries. Full details of the President’s remarks are available at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/ramaphosa-calls-coordinated-african-response-migration-challenges.