South Africa Rejects West African Pressure Over Migration, Vows AU Defense

Pretoria’s government entered the week on the offensive, rejecting what it called a coordinated attempt by Ghana and Nigeria to isolate South Africa diplomatically over migration and alleged Afrophobic violence, even as the two West African nations moved to escalate the dispute to continental level.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed that South Africa welcomes an African Union debate on migration but flatly rejected the framing that positions Pretoria as hostile to African nationals. The core issue, he said, is illegal migration, not Afrophobia. “What Ghana and Nigeria will not succeed in doing is to use the challenge of illegal migration as an instrument to isolate South Africa from the rest of the continent,” Magwenya told the Mail & Guardian. “That campaign will fail as it is faltering even now.”

The statement followed a meeting between Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sola Enikanolaiye on the sidelines of the Economic Community of West African States mid-year summit in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Their joint declaration, issued Sunday, committed both countries to coordinated action on what they characterized as Afrophobic protests in South Africa and pledged to push for the matter to reach the agenda of an upcoming African Union summit.

The move marks a shift in diplomatic strategy. Ghana had called for an AU debate on migration earlier this year, but Nigeria’s formal alignment with that initiative represents a more unified West African front. If adopted by AU member states, the proposal would transform what has been bilateral tension into a formal discussion among African leaders.

The joint statement also called for stronger continental mechanisms, including early-warning systems and preventive diplomacy to address attacks on African migrants. That language reflects both countries’ interpretation of recent incidents in South Africa as part of a broader pattern requiring a coordinated continental response.

Meanwhile, Pretoria signaled it was prepared to engage at that level on its own terms. “We have welcomed the opportunity to place the issue of migration on the AU agenda, where we can discuss both the pull and push factors of migration,” Magwenya said. The Presidency argued that such a forum would allow discussion of “every country’s responsibility to contribute to the development of Africa in order to avoid a situation where one country has to carry the burden of the entire continent.”

The diplomatic tension has sharpened in recent weeks. Anti-illegal migration demonstrations in parts of South Africa, combined with criticism from several African governments, produced an increasingly public disagreement over how to characterize the underlying problem. Last week the Presidency accused Ghana and, to a lesser extent, Nigeria of orchestrating a campaign to portray South Africa as diplomatically isolated. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation formally raised South Africa’s concerns with Ghana’s High Commissioner.

The dispute reflects two fundamentally incompatible narratives. Ghana and Nigeria have framed recent incidents as expressions of Afrophobia requiring a unified African response. South Africa’s government maintains that the central issue is undocumented migration and that enforcing immigration law should not be conflated with hostility toward African nationals. Pretoria has repeatedly condemned vigilantism and attacks on migrants while arguing that illegal migration places genuine pressure on public services.

Despite the escalating public disagreement, Magwenya indicated that President Cyril Ramaphosa remained committed to direct engagement with both countries. “The president has committed himself to engaging on these matters in an open and constructive manner and that includes engaging with Ghana and Nigeria as we still maintain diplomatic relations with both countries, notwithstanding their posture on the matter,” he said.

Whether the AU summit will formally adopt the West African proposal, and on whose terms the migration debate is ultimately framed, remains the open question shaping the next phase of this dispute.