Ghana has summoned South Africa's top envoy to the country over alleged “acts of intimidation and harassment” against its citizens and other African expatriates in the southern African nation.
Earlier this week, video clips were shared online showing vigilantes attacking and confronting people they believed were in South Africa illegally – in one of them they challenge a Ghanaian man about his status.
Xenophobia has long been an issue in South Africa, sometimes accompanied by deadly violence.
Ghanaian authorities have met with the man seen in the video to offer him support and also urged citizens living abroad to continue to “abide by law.”
The West African country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it also met with Thando Dalamba, South Africa's acting high commissioner to Ghana, and expressed formal protest over recent “xenophobic incidents” against foreigners, including its own citizens.
It cites a video clip in which a group of South Africans are interrogating a Ghanaian man. The group demands to see the man's documents and even when he presents them, they question his authenticity, before telling him to go and “fix his country”.
According to Ghana's Foreign Ministry, the man is legally in South Africa.
“Such conduct undermines the dignity and rights of law-abiding citizens,” the ministry said in a statement Thursday.
Ghana's High Commission in South Africa shared a video of top envoy Benjamin Quashie meeting the man.
“The situation is serious, we understand, (but) let's continue to follow the law (and) as expatriate citizens in this country… respect the rules,” says Quashi.
The country's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has also spoken to his South African counterpart Ronald Lamola, who promised a full investigation and expressed sympathy for the victims.
South Africa's acting police minister Firoz Cachalia also condemned these acts, saying that “no individual or group has the right to take the law into their own hands, regardless of grievances or frustrations”.
According to official figures, South Africa is home to about 2.4 million migrants, which is just less than 4% of the total population. However, many more are believed to be in the country unofficially.
Most come from neighboring countries such as Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, which have a history of providing migrant labor to their wealthier neighbors. A small number come from Nigeria.
Vigilante groups such as Operation Dudula, which means forced expulsion in the Zulu language, and March on March claim that South Africa is overrun with immigrants and blame them for many of the country's social problems, particularly unemployment and drug abuse.
They have held demonstrations in major cities that sometimes turned violent and resulted in attacks on foreign-owned stores.
Earlier this week, March on March led a protest in the port city of Durban and in a clip shared online, some participants were seen attacking a man they believe is an illegal alien.
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(Getty Images/BBC)
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