KINSHASA, DRC — President Cyril Ramaphosa committed South Africa to intensified diplomatic engagement across the continent this week, pledging to send envoys to African counterparts to forge a coordinated, rights-based approach to migration governance.
The commitment emerged from bilateral talks in Kinshasa on Thursday between Ramaphosa and Democratic Republic of the Congo President Félix Tshisekedi. The two heads of state met to address regional cooperation, the Ebola outbreak, and migration, with both leaders framing the latter as a governance challenge that no single country can resolve alone.
Ramaphosa grounded South Africa’s policy position in constitutional obligation. He stated that government policy is guided by the Constitution and its promotion of human rights and dignity, while simultaneously recognizing the legitimate concerns of South African citizens experiencing unemployment and poverty. The President acknowledged that some citizens have protested against the presence of foreign nationals, a reality he said the government has taken seriously.
Acknowledging domestic frustration, he stressed, does not diminish the state’s duty to protect all people within its borders. Security forces managed nationwide protests held earlier this week to maintain order while ensuring the rights of all people were respected. Ramaphosa described the government’s role as striking a balance between the rights and safety concerns of South African citizens and the dignity and security of foreign nationals, whether documented or undocumented.
The planned envoy missions carry a specific policy message: that proper documentation of all persons in a country strengthens security and protects the rights of everyone. Ramaphosa said South Africa would communicate this position to African counterparts on what he called a balanced basis, signaling that the outreach is intended to build consensus rather than export a unilateral model.
Tshisekedi reinforced the multilateral framing while affirming South Africa’s sovereign right to manage its own borders and immigration policy. The Congolese President called for a humane approach and expressed confidence in South African leadership to balance competing interests in line with African solidarity values. He stated that while each country has the right to organize the management of its territory, borders, and immigration policy in respect of its laws, such management must be conducted with total humanity and respect for the dignity of people. That framing positions migration governance as a matter requiring both legal authority and ethical constraint.
By contrast, the bilateral engagement reflects a broader shift in how African leadership is approaching migration: moving from isolated national responses toward frameworks emphasizing continental cooperation, shared responsibility, and rights-based governance. Both leaders were explicit that the issue transcends borders and demands institutional coordination rather than unilateral action.
Ramaphosa’s repeated references to the government’s duty to protect all people living in South Africa, regardless of documentation status, indicate that accountability for migration policy will extend to how vulnerable populations are treated during implementation. South Africa’s approach, he suggested, will be evaluated not only on its effectiveness in managing population flows but on its adherence to established legal and rights-based frameworks.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for its part, remains convinced that countries must work together in a spirit of shared responsibility to protect populations and strengthen regional integration, Tshisekedi said.
Whether the coordinated approach Ramaphosa outlined translates into concrete policy mechanisms, formal agreements, or binding regional frameworks is the question now facing African institutions. The diplomatic commitment is clear. The architecture to support it is not yet built.
More information on the engagement is available at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/ramaphosa-calls-coordinated-african-response-migration-challenges.