Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe ask citizens in South Africa to be cautious, remain indoors

African countries including Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho and Zimbabwe have warned migrants in South Africa to be cautious and remain indoors.

This is due to reported attacks targeting foreigners. Ghana has lobbied the African Union regional bloc for action.

The South African government, however, said on Wednesday that the recent incidents in South Africa are unfairly being branded "xenophobic."

South Africa has seen a wave of protests against illegal immigration, especially by citizens of other Sub-Saharan African countries.

Ghana urges AU to intervene

Ghana said on Wednesday it had facilitated the safe return of a citizen who was seen being targeted in a video that went viral, while Nigeria also said it was repatriating at least 130 citizens after the deaths of two Nigerians.

Ghana's statement did not identify the incident it was referring to, but one video circulating on social media showed a Ghanaian man being harassed by a crowd of people who demanded to see his papers and then questioned their authenticity.

Mozambique's President Daniel Chapo met South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday and called for calm, while Ghana's government wrote to the African Union asking it to take up the issue.

The other countries issued their warnings in statements to their citizens.

South Africa condemns violence

In reported cases that degenerated into violence, the South African government condemned the attacks while also expressing sympathy for its citizens' frustration over illegal immigration.

"South Africans are within their right to protest against the spiralling illegal immigration challenge, but violence linked to those protests ... is not acceptable and law enforcement must deal with the instigators of such violence," a cabinet statement said on Thursday.

South Africa's immigrant population has seen a steady rise over the past few decades, increasing from 2% of the total population in 1996 to 4% in 2022, according to a report from the national statistics agency Stats SA. Most of them are from the Southern African Development Community region, it said.