{"id":867710,"date":"2026-07-28T12:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867710"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:07:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:07:52","slug":"ramaphosa-sends-a-warning-to-south-africas-neighbours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/867710\/ramaphosa-sends-a-warning-to-south-africas-neighbours\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa sends a warning to South Africa’s neighbours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that unmanaged migration poses a growing risk to the stability of South Africa and the rest of the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said South Africa and its neighbours need to work together to tackle the root causes driving people to leave their home countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was his message at the First Ordinary Session of the Seventh Legislature of the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand on Monday, 27 July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa said migration had become one of the key issues that Africa must confront if it hopes to achieve greater unity and integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen how unmanaged migration can undermine the sovereignty, security and social order of countries,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa’s comments come as South Africa continues to grapple with heated public debate over illegal immigration, border security and pressure on public services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He acknowledged that migration remained a sensitive issue across the continent, including in South Africa. \u201cToday, many parts of our continent are confronted by the challenge of migration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere in South Africa, as has been the experience of other countries, we have witnessed outbreaks of anti-migrant sentiment and incidents of intimidation and violence directed at foreign nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said these incidents had been fuelled partly by \u201cmisinformation and prejudice\u201d, but also reflected \u201ca genuine concern among some South Africans about the social and economic burden of illegal migration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa stressed that South Africa rejects violence and vigilantism directed at foreign nationals and said the government remains committed to enforcing immigration laws while protecting people’s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the South African government, we have taken a firm stance against any form of intimidation, vigilantism or violence directed at foreign nationals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have taken steps to strengthen and enforce our laws, to defuse tension and to ensure that all persons within our borders respect the rights of all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president also warned against treating all migrants as though they were in the country unlawfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stronger cooperation between African countries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He said there is an important distinction between legal migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and those who violate immigration laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must not conflate lawful migrants, refugees and asylum seekers with people who enter or remain in countries in violation of immigration laws,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that migrants should not become convenient targets for broader social and economic frustrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNor should migrants be made scapegoats for unemployment, crime or shortcomings in the delivery of public services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa argued that governments should adopt what he described as firm, fair and effective immigration management, while upholding human dignity and the rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur task is to ensure that migration is managed in a manner that affirms the rights and dignity of all people, that respects international conventions, and that advances social cohesion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While calling for stronger immigration management, Ramaphosa directed much of his message at African governments, and said migration cannot be solved through border controls alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that countries across the continent must work together to address the conditions that force people to leave their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs African countries, we have to acknowledge and address the conditions that drive migration in the first place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to work together to address issues like conflict, instability, governance failure, poverty and social discord. We need to create equal economic opportunity across Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that African leaders must work for a future where Africans migrate out of choice and not necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa said achieving that goal will require stronger cooperation between African countries, greater economic development, improved governance and continued efforts to promote peace and stability across the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that unmanaged migration poses a growing risk to the stability of South Africa and the rest of the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":867059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2082045407413051536","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[19732,20266,853,25948],"class_list":["post-867710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-immigration","tag-president-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-south-africa","tag-the-seventh-legislature-of-the-pan-african-parliament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867710"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867746,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867710\/revisions\/867746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}