Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya addressed the media on Wednesday urging African leaders to address migration’s root causes and rejected claims of widespread xenophobia in the country.

• Vincent Magwenya, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, has urged Africa to address migration’s root causes.
• Magwenya rejected claims of widespread xenophobia, citing crime and migration complexities, and called for constructive continental dialogue on migration issues.
• Ramaphosa’s Zimbabwe visit sparked concerns over a controversial attendee; Magwenya stated Ramaphosa was unaware and urged law enforcement to act independently.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says Africa needs to confront the root causes of high levels of migration, including conflict and misgovernance, instead of simply condemning South Africa over allegations of xenophobia.

Magwenya made the remarks in Cape Town on Wednesday while briefing the media on Ramaphosa’s upcoming programmes.

He was responding to renewed pockets of anti-immigration marches in certain parts of the country. Protests took place in Pretoria and Johannesburg last week, with another march held in Durban on Wednesday.

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These demonstrations, along with isolated incidents in which foreign nationals have been harassed and intimidated, prompted some African countries to condemn South Africa for xenophobia. The country has also been rebuked by UN Secretary-General António Guterres over the allegations.

Magwenya said South Africa should avoid falling into what he called a trap of “blanket descriptions” that labelled the country as xenophobic.

“It is not, and you will know that,” he said. “The other fact is we don’t have wholesale killing of foreign nationals.”

Magwenya referred to the recent killing of Ethiopian nationals in Johannesburg, saying investigations had revealed they were killed by other foreign nationals.

He said the incident was criminal in nature and that South Africans were well acquainted with the country’s high levels of crime.

“And so, we’re going to have to be really careful in how we analyse these issues, and we give them a proper characterisation.

Magwenya added:

“So, we need to avoid these lazy levels of analysis, because they do a lot of damage to the country.”

More importantly, Magwenya said, the continent needed an honest discussion about migration.

He added that this formed part of the discussions Ramaphosa held with his Mozambican counterpart, Daniel Chapo, on Tuesday.

“They agreed that you cannot deal with immigration issues in isolation from the contributing factors that drive people to leave the countries of birth and go and seek refuge elsewhere, and that’s something the continent needs to confront openly and quite frankly,” Magwenya said.

“The continent needs to work together to address the issues that are behind these levels of migration that we see across our continent, issues of conflict, issues of instability, and, in some areas, if you’re being honest, the misgovernance that causes people to migrate in large numbers and seek refuge in different parts of the continent, including South Africa.

He added:

Magwenya said South Africans were open, friendly, and warm people, adding: “We will reject any notion that seeks to characterise this country or its people as being xenophobic.”

Zimbabwe trip

He also addressed Ramaphosa’s recent working visit to Zimbabwe on Sunday, saying the president had been invited by his counterpart, Emmerson Mnangagwa. The leaders discussed a range of bilateral and mutual issues.

Magwenya declined to go into the details of the discussions but described the engagement as “quite deep” and thorough.

He said the two presidents had agreed to meet in a “relaxed environment and outside of the constraints of presidential formality and protocol” at Mnangagwa’s farm.

However, Magwenya said the Presidency had since “noted with concern” reports about the visit, including claims that an individual of interest to South African law enforcement was present.

“President Ramaphosa had no prior knowledge of who would be present during the visit, nor was he familiar with the said individual.

“The president flew to Zimbabwe for a meeting with his counterpart and nothing else,” he added.

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Magwenya said Ramaphosa had encouraged law enforcement agencies to do their job and to pursue the individual of interest.

He added that Ramaphosa believed law enforcement should not be deterred from acting because of photos showing him in the presence of the individual.

“The president encourages our law enforcement agencies to vigorously pursue, or continue to pursue, the investigations that they’ve commenced against these individuals or individuals without any hesitation.”

While acknowledging the criticism, Magwenya maintained that Ramaphosa could not reasonably have known who would be present at the meeting, as he had been invited by his counterpart.