South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday issued a formal apology to the president of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, for violence perpetrated against Mozambican nationals during South Africa’s recent anti-migrant protests.
The Mozambican Foreign Ministry said Ramaphosa tendered the apology during a lecture he was delivering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a major public research university in South Africa. President Chapo attended the lecture, as he was in South Africa to attend a summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Monday.
“President Ramaphosa, with all humility, apologized for the violence perpetrated by South African citizens against foreigners, including Mozambicans. It is true that the South African government has always treated this matter as illegal migration, but President Ramaphosa expressed his apology for the violence,” said Mozambican Foreign Minister Maria dos Santos Lucas.
“This matter was not well managed. There were errors in management, although we are not here to criticize,” dos Santos added, chiding Ramaphosa’s government while ostensibly accepting his apology.
The Mozambican foreign minister also stated Ramaphosa would “continue to address the xenophobic violence with his counterparts” during the SADC meeting on Monday.
Ramaphosa did so during his address to the conference, condemning all of the attacks against foreign nationals during South Africa’s recent unrest.
“We cannot submit to intimidation and harassment of people seen as coming from elsewhere. 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 at the conference.
“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 our streets,” he continued.
“Our people are the product of migration,” he declared. “Migration accounts for much of the diversity, vibrancy and richness of this region.”
Ramaphosa nevertheless acknowledged the complaints of the anti-migrant demonstrators in his speech, calling on African governments to “work collectively to address the underlying causes of migration, including conflict, instability, poverty, governance failures and limited economic opportunities.”
On Monday, Professor Sipho Seepe of the University of Zululand, a columnist and political analyst, said Ramaphosa’s “conciliatory posture” was a sign of weakness and declining South African regional influence.
“The President should confront his counterparts regarding governance failures in their countries, making it clear that they bear responsibility for illegal migration. The fact that South Africa hosts thousands of illegal immigrants is related to the crises these citizens are facing in their home countries,” Seepe said.
“South Africa’s failure lies in its inability to enforce the laws. If our laws were properly enforced, we wouldn’t be dealing with illegal immigrants,” he argued.
“SADC summits are like broken records, as leaders meet only to congratulate one another while real problems are plain to see,” he added.
South Africa experienced months of steadily escalating political unrest over the summer, as members of the general public blamed illegal migrants for taking their jobs, overstressing hospitals and social programs, and spreading crime.
The protesters blasted Ramaphosa’s government for doing little to secure the borders, and accused corrupt government officials of taking bribes from organized crime gangs to bring more migrants in. Anti-migrant “vigilante” groups formed, setting a date of June 30 for all illegal aliens to leave the country and threatening violent consequences for those who failed to comply.
The South African government estimated that around 82,000 migrants either left the country voluntarily or were deported this year, while neighboring governments said the full total was at least twice that high.
The South African Foreign Ministry ruffled some feathers last week by asking Malawi, Ethiopia, and Nigeria to cover the $18 million cost of repatriating thousands of their nationals who were in South Africa illegally.
Anti-migrant protest groups and vigilantes are still active in South Africa. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the SADC conference in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday, shouting “Come get your people!” at the foreign delegations.
The largest anti-migrant vigilante group, March and March, on Monday announced a new deadline of September 30 for illegal aliens to either leave the country on their own, or be deported. If the deadline is not met, the group threatened to stage “the mother of all protests.”