President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed deep concern over the treatment of foreign nationals in South Africa, saying the country is “deeply ashamed” of recent cases of discrimination, harassment and attacks against people from other African countries.
Ramaphosa made the remarks on Friday during a public lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, ahead of the 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) being held in Durban.
With regional leaders gathering to discuss closer cooperation, Ramaphosa said the mistreatment of migrants was fundamentally at odds with the principles of solidarity that underpin SADC.
“As South Africans, we are deeply concerned and ashamed that nationals from other countries have in recent months been subjected to discrimination and ill-treatment,” he said.
He condemned acts of intimidation and violence against foreign nationals, stressing that the actions of a minority should not define South Africa’s relationship with its neighbours.
“The criminal actions of a few within our communities are a repudiation of the solidarity upon which this community was founded. We cannot preach integration at summits and practice exclusion in the streets,” Ramaphosa said.
His comments come amid growing tensions surrounding undocumented migrants, with anti-immigration campaigns and protests reported in several parts of South Africa in recent months.
Some groups have demanded that undocumented migrants leave the country, with an unofficial June 30 deadline reportedly increasing anxiety among migrant communities.
The tensions have also contributed to the departure of thousands of foreign nationals, including people from Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, through voluntary repatriation and deportation programmes.
Ramaphosa said regional integration would require countries to confront the underlying factors that drive migration rather than simply treating migration as a security problem.
He pointed to conflict, poverty and governance challenges as some of the factors contributing to population movements across the region.
The President also called for greater cooperation among SADC member states to create safer and more orderly systems for the movement of people, in line with the bloc’s long-term Vision 2050.
South Africa has simultaneously stepped up immigration enforcement while maintaining that unlawful behaviour against migrants cannot be tolerated.
Ramaphosa’s intervention comes at a sensitive moment for the region, as SADC leaders seek deeper economic and political integration while South Africa grapples with domestic concerns over unemployment, crime, pressure on public services and competition for economic opportunities.
His message was clear: South Africa’s commitment to regional solidarity cannot be separated from how foreign nationals are treated within its borders.
The President’s remarks also sought to draw a distinction between enforcing immigration laws and allowing communities to take the law into their own hands, warning that violence and discrimination threaten the broader objective of African integration.