Lamola Rejects SA Blame on Migration, Tells AU to Address Root Causes
By Mpho Tumelo Modise | Editor-in-Chief, EZA News
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola has pushed back against characterisations of South Africa as the origin or driver of the region’s migration challenges, rejecting claims that the country bears primary responsibility for the tensions that have surfaced between South Africa and several African neighbours in recent weeks.
Speaking in the context of a proposal by Ghana at the African Union level, Lamola said the question of migration requires “a broader African discussion on the causes of migration” rather than a focus on South Africa’s domestic response to inflows from the continent. His framing is diplomatically calibrated: it acknowledges the legitimacy of African concern, redirects the conversation toward structural causes rather than destination-country policies, and positions South Africa as willing to engage the issue at the continental level.
The political backdrop to Lamola’s remarks is significant. South Africa has been under external diplomatic pressure in the aftermath of anti-migrant protests that flared in several provinces, during which foreign nationals – predominantly from other African countries – faced targeted violence. The government’s response to those protests was criticised domestically by former President Kgalema Motlanthe, who warned that state inaction was breeding conditions for anarchy, and has drawn concern from several African governments whose nationals were affected.
Ghana’s proposal, whatever its precise form, represents the kind of multilateral engagement on migration that South Africa has consistently said it prefers to bilateral confrontation. Lamola’s willingness to engage with the substance of the proposal, while reframing the question around root causes, reflects a recognition that the current trajectory – bilateral tensions with multiple African states – is not sustainable for a country that has staked significant political capital on its pan-African credentials.
The causes of intra-African migration are not obscure. They include persistent economic inequality between states, political instability, climate-driven displacement, and the structural inequalities of the continent’s economic geography – of which South Africa’s status as the dominant economy in its sub-region is itself a primary driver. Addressing those causes is a decades-long project. Managing the political consequences of failing to address them is an immediate one.
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