South Africa ‘deeply concerned, ashamed’ on attacks against migrants: President

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Friday that his country is "deeply concerned and ashamed" by how vigilante groups treated foreign nationals during recent anti-immigrant protests that forced thousands to flee the country.

“We cannot submit to the intimidation and harassment of people seen as coming from elsewhere (other countries),” Ramaphosa said while delivering a keynote address at a public lecture of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Durban ahead of the 46th ordinary summit of SADC heads of state.

He further said: “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 and were even forced to leave the country under threat of violence.”

Over the past few months, vigilante groups in South Africa intensified their campaigns against undocumented migrants, staging protests and visiting homes, businesses and workplaces to demand identification documents and pressure immigrants to leave.

The campaigns were also accompanied by reports of violence, intimidation, forced business closures and looting, while thousands of migrants from countries including Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have since returned home through voluntary repatriation or deportation.

South Africa has long attracted migrants from across the continent, but migration has become an increasingly contentious political and economic issue.

Anti-immigrant groups and some politicians accuse migrants of committing crimes, crowding social services and taking jobs and economic opportunities meant for citizens.

“The criminal actions of a few within our communities are a repudiation of the solidarity upon which this Southern African (region) is built. We cannot preach integration at summits and practice exclusion in the streets of our countries,” Ramaphosa said at the lecture attended by some leaders from the Southern African bloc.

SADC is a regional intergovernmental organization composed of 16 member states whose aims include promoting sustainable economic development, peace and regional integration.

Ramaphosa told the gathering that the Southern African region was built by historic migrations that took place across the continent over the years.

“Southern Africa has borne witness to the movement of people over the millennia. Our people are the products of migration. Migration accounts for much of the diversity as well as the vibrancy and richness of this region,” he said.