Tuesday, 16th June, 2026
Hon Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor
South Dayi
Mr Speaker, I thank you. Rev John Ntim Fordjour was wondering whether I am indeed Atta. I am Atta Kakra.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to make this Statement in respect of the rising xenophobic issues in South Africa. I rise with a heavy heart, not merely as a citizen of Ghana, but also as a Member of Parliament of Ghana, as well as the Member of the Pan-African Parliament, which is headquartered in Durban, South Africa.
We are deeply troubled by the dangerous resurgence of xenophobic violence against fellow Africans in the Republic of South Africa. What we are witnessing is not an isolated disturbance, it is not a misunderstanding between communities and it is not an ordinary social frustration. What we are witnessing is the gradual normalisation of organised hostility against African migrants and foreign nationals under the dangerous disguise of clean-up operations, citizen enforcement, and community protection.
Mr Speaker, recent incidents in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal have shocked many across our continent. Viral videos and eyewitness reports show mobs stopping African nationals in public spaces, demanding identity documents, interrogating individuals without lawful authority, threatening traders, assaulting persons perceived to be foreigners, and forcing migrant-owned businesses to shut down out of fear. Among the victims was a Ghanaian national lawfully resident in South Africa who was reportedly confronted and told to fix his own country.
This, Mr Speaker, is unacceptable, it is unlawful and, above all, is profoundly unAfrican. We must speak honestly today, Mr Speaker. No citizen, private nor ordinary, has the legal authority to become an immigration officer unto himself. No mob has the constitutional right to decide who belongs in Africa. No African should be hunted in another African state simply because of an accent, nationality insinuation, surname, occupation, or economic hardship.
This growing pattern represents a dangerous collapse between lawful governance and street vigilantism. Hon Members, South Africa occupies a sacred place in the conscience of Africa. Many African states, including Ghana, stood firmly with the people of South Africa during the brutal years of apartheid. African countries provided diplomatic support, financial assistance, scholarships, safe havens, military solidarity, and moral advocacy for the liberation struggle.
It is therefore painful that Africans who once marched for South African freedom are today living in fear within South Africa. Even more troubling, Mr Speaker, is the broader moral contradiction this crisis creates. South Africa has rightly earned global respect for speaking boldly against injustice, apartheid-era oppression, and more recently, the humanitarian catastrophe that happened in Gaza. South Africa has positioned itself before the international community as a defender of human dignity, international law, and oppressed people’s rights but any xenophobic violence against fellow Africans weakens that moral authority, Mr Speaker. A nation cannot credibly condemn dehumanisation abroad while tolerating the dehumanisation of Africans at home.
Mr Speaker, the struggle for Palestinian dignity and the struggle for African dignity are not morally separate conversations. Human rights cannot be defended selectively. Justice loses credibility when compassion stops at the border. Xenophobia therefore does not only threaten migrants. It undermines Africa’s collective moral voice on global justice, human rights, and international solidarity. It also weakens the very spirit of African unity upon which this Parliament and the African Union were founded.
Mr Speaker, Ghana has consistently demonstrated friendship, openness, and economic cooperation toward South Africa and South African businesses. Today, several South African companies operate successfully and profitably across Ghana, with some enjoying dominant market positions and significant market share in their sectors. This is not by accident. It is evidence of Ghana’s respect for South Africa, its investors, and the broader Pan-African ideal of mutual economic partnership.
Mr Speaker, these companies include MTN Group, DSTv, Stanbic Bank, Protea Hotels, SABMiller, Shoprite, Lancet Laboratories, South African Airways, First National Bank (FNB), Gold Fields, ABSA Group, and Broll Property Group, just to mention a few.
Mr Speaker, these companies have operated, traded, expanded, employed Ghanaians, generated revenue, and benefited from Ghana’s hospitality and stable investment environment. Ghanaians did not attack South African businesses because of nationality. We did not organise mobs against South African workers. We did not establish illegal checkpoints to interrogate South Africans in our markets or streets.
Mr Speaker, that is the Africa we believe in. An Africa where economic cooperation replaces suspicion. An Africa where nationality is not treated as a crime. An Africa where African prosperity is shared, and not weaponised. This Statement is not intended to inflame tensions against the South African people. Indeed, many South Africans themselves have condemned these attacks.
Rather, Mr Speaker, this is a call for urgency, accountability, and continental responsibility. The African continent cannot remain silent while anti-African violence evolves into an organised form of intimidation.
Mr Speaker, I accordingly and respectfully call for the following:
i. A formal Pan-African Parliament resolution that condemns xenophobic violence against African nationals anywhere on the continent.
ii. Immediate investigations and prosecutions against individuals and groups involved in unlawful assaults, intimidation, looting, and hate-driven vigilantism in South Africa.
iii.Stronger protection mechanism for African migrants, traders, refugees, students, and workers residing in member states.
iv. A continental early warning and response framework for xenophobic violence under the African Union Peace and Security architecture.
v. Greater economic cooperation and youth employment strategies across Africa to address the socioeconomic frustrations that often fuel xenophobic mobilisation in Africa.
vi. A reaffirmation of Pan-African solidarity, dignity, and the principle that every African life matters equally acrossthe continent.
Mr Speaker, Africa cannot preach unity in Addis Ababa while Africans bleed in African streets. We cannot advocate free movement on the Agenda 2063 while fear governs the movement of African people. We cannot celebrate Pan-Africanism ceremonially while tolerating anti-African violence politically in South Africa.
Mr Speaker, we cannot collectively demand justice from the world while we fail to guarantee justice for Africans within Africa itself. Beyond policy and diplomacy, we must ask: What would our ancestors think of us today? What would Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah say if Africans are hunting fellow Africans in African streets? What would Nelson Mandela think after sacrificing so much for humanity and reconciliation? What would Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, and Julius Nyerere say about an African turning against its own people? These freedom fighters dreamt of a united Africa, not one where nationality becomes a reason for fear, humiliation, or violence.
Mr Speaker, history will be watching us. Future generations will ask whether Africa stood together when hatred rose within our borders. Let our answer be courage over fear, unity over division, and justice over silence, and let us do so as Africans first.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity.
Hon Samuel Abdulai Jinapor
Damongo
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this very comprehensive and insightful Statement by the Mr Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, the Hon Member for South Dayi.
It is a very timely Statement, and I think that he has dealt with almost all the aspects of this matter. Mr Speaker, I want to associate myself with him when he says that not all South Africans support this very unfortunate and barbaric conduct in parts of South Africa. Indeed, the ruling party of South Africa since 1994, the African National Congress (ANC), has its own charter that is anchored on racial harmony and indeed South Africa independence was fought and achieved on the principle of African unity and racial harmony.
Mr Speaker, I think it is also fitting for us to commend and salute our Government, the Mahama Administration, the Ministry, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, for the extraordinary efforts they put in evacuating our compatriots from South Africa, and generally for the leadership they have shown in this very important and difficult matter.
Again, Mr Speaker, I think it is important for us to urge our Government on and associate with our Government in the case where they have petitioned the African Union (AU) to deal with this matter at its AU mid-year coordinating meeting, which is scheduled to be held in Cairo, Egypt. And also say that the Ministry should engage other African countries to ensure that this matter is not treated as one of those immigration issues, but an important Pan-African issue which requires Africa’s intervention as a collective.
Mr Speaker, Ghana has had a very respected and enviable record of evacuations, and I refer to our evacuation of some thousands of our compatriots when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, where this evacuation was done through Romania, Poland, Uruguay, Hungary, Slovakia, and many other places.
Mr Speaker, again, in Lebanon, we were able to evacuate some 2,262 Ghanaians and during COVID-19, we evacuated almost 8,000 Ghanaians across the world. Mr Speaker, I think it is about time that our Government and our country, and perhaps this House, considered a policy or even legislation in respect of evacuation.
What happened during the opening football match between South Africa and Mexico at the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament should be a wake-up call, not just for South Africans, but all African nations, that Africa is a unitary continent. We are one people and indeed, until in the 1880s, when we had seven European countries and further to that, during the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885, when there was a scramble for and the partitioning of Africa—We are all one people, and that is why you will find Akans in Ghana, as well as in Cote d’Ivoire, and you will find all manner of ethnic groups littered all over Africa, because we are one people. I think it is absolutely important for us to underscore that point.
To conclude, Mr Speaker, I want to say that Africa is one and what happened to our compatriots in South Africa also demonstrated that in times like that, Ghana can be united and all of us can rally behind our elected Government to deal with difficult situations such as that. We saw that during COVID-19, where all the various components and composites of the polity of our country came together to support our Government. We have done so in this situation. But in all that we do, we should all remember that Africa first.
Mr Speaker, with that, I thank the maker of the Statement for such a profound Statement. Thank you.
Hon James Agalga
Builsa North
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity and let me commend the maker of the Statement, my own Majority Chief Whip, Hon Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor. The Statement is indeed very timely.
Mr Speaker, let me for once, commend my Brother, the Hon Samuel Abdulai Jinapor. He has commended the Government for its efforts. And in his contribution to this Statement, he has been very fair and I would like to congratulate him.
Mr Speaker, that said, following the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, many Ghanaians have implored Government to exact vengeance. I am happy the maker of the Statement alluded to the fact that in this country, there are quite a number of South African business interests. His Statement, if read carefully,
Mr Speaker, suggests that we should not exact vengeance. I want to support that call, that while we pursue diplomatic channels towards a resolution of this matter, we should not and I repeat, we should not exact vengeance. Let us demonstrate maturity in the face of adversity.
Mr Speaker, I say this because our own history suggests that in matters of this kind, if we do not allow cool heads to prevail and decide that vengeance is the way to go, we may create more challenges and troubles for ourselves. Let us cast our minds back, Mr Speaker, to 1969. The same reasons were canvased; unemployment caused by the presence of foreigners in this country. Around that period, 1969, government decided to respond by enacting a legislation known as the Aliens Compliance Order of 1969 under Kofi Abrefa Busia, the then Prime Minister. The result was that foreigners were repatriated from this country.
Mr Speaker, fast forward to the 1980s —Nigerians exacted vengeance— Mr Speaker, I am making reference to historical antecedents. What is wrong with that? What is wrong with that? Mr Speaker, let me continue. So, from 1969, I proceeded to the early 1980s, specifically 1983, when the Nigerians elected to exact vengeance.
Mr Speaker, there was a humanitarian catastrophe and anybody who lived in Ghana during that period in the early 1980s would agree that what happened in 1969 provoked the vengeance that was exacted in 1983. Which is why I am saying that in spite of the fact that the South Africans have acted in a manner that is unacceptable, we should not, as a country, seek to exact vengeance. Because if we do so, the backlash, Mr Speaker, may be hard to contain.
It is against this backdrop that I urge that there should be restraint. Let us pursue the diplomatic options that are open to us, devoid of exacting vengeance. With those few words, Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity. Why are you people so afraid of—
Hon Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh
Bosome Freho
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I have always maintained that every comment or statement that is made here is debatable, depending on who is sitting in the Chair, which is clear. Mr Speaker, the Aliens Compliance Order was passed by the Nkrumah administration and that is the fact on record.
Mr Speaker, I proceed to say that the issue with our colleague South Africa is something we are all not happy about. We have condemned it in every or no uncertain terms. The Minority had made a very strong position on it. The Leader of the Minority group even made a very lucid and succinct Statement on the floor of ECOWAS Parliament and our point and positions are clear. The Ranking Member has made some of the points, so I will not belabour them.
Mr Speaker, we have about 50,000 Ghanaians living in South Africa. Now, we have only evacuated 1,000 of them. The percentage of Ghanaians living in South Africa whom we have brought to Ghana is less than 3 per cent of those who are still living there. So, it is important that we resort to a lot of diplomatic engagement and tactfulness to protect the security and the safety of the huge chunks of Ghanaians in South Africa, not just those who are here. Let us not, as a country, focus on the few, the less than 1 per cent that we have brought here. It is important.
Mr Speaker, I am emphasising on this diplomatic issue because of the scramble between Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and South Africa’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon Ronald Lamola. It is not the best way for diplomatic engagement and it is threatening for the country and our compatriot, our sisters and brothers still living in South Africa.
Mr Speaker, my next point, it is important that we know that it is good that we announce or tell people of the things that we are doing. We must trumpet some of our gains and our efforts. But sometimes diplomacy is not always running to social media. It is not always doing things covertly. It is important that we sometimes resort to backdoor negotiations and engagement which is clean and clear.
South Africa’s Minister for Foreign Affairs was clear, and he said that, he has been responding on social media because of the route our Hon Minister uses. Therefore, I urge that while we are dealing and looking at this issue between South Africa and Ghana, we should look at some of these negotiations that need to be done backdoor and not always on social media.
Mr Speaker, we have about 400 Ghanaians who have moved from about nine different provinces of South Africa to Pretoria. They have done their biometric capturing and the Department of Home Affairs, South Africa has taken them out of their system. They are still lurking in Pretoria, finding space to come to Ghana.
While we commend the Government and the Hon Minister for evacuating about 1,000 of our compatriots back here, they should make arrangements for the few 400 people that are still lurking and having challenges in South Africa to come back home because they have already done their biometric registration and the Department of Home Affairs, South Africa has taken them out of the system.
Mr Speaker, let me say that the entire Africa is against the xenophobic act. The demonstration at the World Cup where Africans were supporting Mexico was a clear indication and South Africans are also feeling the pain. If somebody is in your country illegally, it is not for you the citizen to walk them out.
The government must take actions to do that. We implore the Government and leadership of South Africa to make a strong statement and take a strong action to deal with this xenophobic act. Mr Speaker, with these few words, I want to thank you and thank the maker of the Statement, Hon Dafeamekpor, the Majority Chief Whip, for making this Statement.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Eric Edem Agbana
Ketu North
hank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this very important and timely Statement by the Hon Majority Chief Whip.
The Statement is very comprehensive and it captures the sentiments of every discerning African about what is happening in South Africa. Mr Speaker, indeed, the xenophobic violence is a betrayal of history, knowing the fact that many of us Africans contributed to the liberation of South Africa.
But Mr Speaker, permit me to use my time to correct an impression created by the previous speaker, Hon AsafoAdjei Ayeh. He created the impression that because we still have some Ghanaians in South Africa, the Hon Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is not justified in engaging his counterpart on the issues that are happening, and even said that this issue is not about running to social media and what have you.
Mr Speaker, since the xenophobic attacks, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Government of Ghana— No, Mr Speaker, it is important for me to say in this Chamber that when the Government of Ghana, acting through the Minister for Foreign Affairs, undertakes any activity, one may disagree, one may not like the Hon Minister, but to sit in this Chamber and create the impression as though the Hon Minister was only engaging in social media activities cannot be true. It is not true and they should allow me to correct it because they were creating the impression that the Hon Minister was only on social media.
Mr Speaker, in fact, the results we achieved that led to the evacuation of the 1,000 was not achieved by just being on social media. The Hon Member may not like the Hon Minister, that is fair, but every discerning Ghanaian can attest to the fact that the Hon Minister and the Government have done extremely well.
I thought that Hon Asafo-Adjei Ayeh would have taken a cue from the Ranking Member when he commented on the Statement from a very nationalistic point of view. It is not every issue that must be reduced to petty politicking. This is a serious issue and the Hon Member cannot use his platform to run the Hon Minister down and pretend he is commenting on the Statement.
Mr Speaker, again, the Hon Member created the impression— Mr Speaker, thank you.
Mr Speaker, to be very fair to the facts, and I wish to state again what I said, that one may not like the Minister, but that is not a currency. That is what I said, and the records are there. I made that statement in reference to the fact that, as I said, every discerning African—In fact, our Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Government are being celebrated across the world for their intervention in the xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
So, I found it very surprising that in the Chamber of Ghana’s Parliament, a Colleague will rise and imply that because the Minister is not using backdoor negotiations, that is why these things are happening. That was the implication, and he claimed the Minister for Foreign Affairs of South Africa had made a statement to that effect.
That is the impression that I sought to correct, and I repeat in this Chamber that one may not like the Minister, but that is not a currency for one, in the face of all the facts, to discount the facts and say things that are unparliamentary.
Mr Speaker, before I conclude, I wish to state emphatically and unequivocally that the Government of Ghana announced to Ghanaians in South Africa who were willing to relocate back to Ghana. And those who expressed interest have been supported, and thousands of them have been evacuated. The process—
Hon Akwasi Gyamfi Onyina-Acheampong
Kwabre East
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. Let me add my voice to the list of commendations to the maker of the Statement for this timely Statement.
Mr Speaker, before I delve into the crux of my commentary, let me first correct something that was expressed by the Hon Agalga that sought to imply that the first deportation was under the Aliens Compliance Act, 1969. The first deportation was on 23rd August, 1957, and it was done by President Nkrumah under the Deportation Act, 1957, which was expressed in Lardan v the Attorney General. It was an important case. So, if we want to go back to deportations, let us express that.
Mr Speaker, let me first condemn these xenophobic attacks. This is not the first time South Africans have done this. Some years back, they started these xenophobic attacks, and it baffles me that Africans will be against Africans. Let us recall that in the struggle against apartheid, all Africans were in hand supporting South Africa. Sometimes, they make statements alluding that if we think we supported them, we should go back to Mandela for our money. These are very unfortunate statements coming from South Africans.
Mr Speaker, sometimes when I witness some of the xenophobic attacks, they beat us, they kill us, they burn us, and they maim us. The surprising thing is that they feel justified doing so. I look at the videos and some emotions that go through me, and I do not even want to place a finger on it. Whether it is anger, frustration, or a sense of retaliation, Africa must come to terms with some of these things.
Mr Speaker, someone said that not all South Africans are involved, but the fact is that those who are not involved, what are they doing? When one sees something, one has to say something. What is the President of South Africa doing? So far, he has been quiet. What is the security doing? I have seen videos where the police are commending the perpetrators, the leaders of these acts, and it is an eyesore.
So, I am very happy that Africa expressed their discontent and their displeasure by ganging against South Africa in their match against Mexico. I think that we should continue in this field. I think that we should not support South Africa in their World Cup matches for us to express our displeasure. I also think that if they continue with these attacks, then we should even go beyond this. We should even go in terms of trade.
We must ensure that we cut some bilateral trade with them, and let them know that, with what they are doing, we are not happy with them. So that the President of South Africa and security agencies will act. They are beating and killing them, and we are quiet. We should not tolerate this. We should not turn the other cheek. This is not the time that Africa should turn the other cheek.
This is the time that Africa should rise, come together, and fight against South Africa, and let them know that they are not the only Africans who are containing or hosting other African countries in their territory. We are all doing the same thing. Africa is global; we are all one border, and if they do not understand that, then we should also show our teeth to them and let them know that we do not support what they are doing.
Mr Speaker, thank you.
Hon Frank Afriyie
Afadjato South
Mr Speaker, thank you so much for this unique opportunity and let me also celebrate the Majority Chief Whip for his thoughtfulness in coming out with this very consequential Statement.
Mr Speaker, it really does not matter how we look at it. We can decide to fry it or bake it. What is happening in South Africa must be condemned. It must be 360-degree condemned, roundly, in this Chamber; we must not mince words.
It is very shameful, decisive, and a deliberate attack by the black South Africans against their fellow Africans. This is something that they have contemplated, and for us, we must show that Africa has values of collectivism, values of interdependence, values that encourage us as Africans to exercise our moral responsibility towards our fellow Africans and society. What is happening today is a direct rape of those values.
No wonder we just had the Fourth Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values in this hallowed Chamber, and our Colleagues from South Africa were missing. They were conspicuously missing; they could not even come here.
Mr Speaker, today, events in South Africa are cascading gradually beyond the borders of Africa. Over the weekend, I listened to all kinds of international news where in Belfast, Northern Ireland, blacks have come under attack, very ferocious attacks, of course. Their houses were burned down. Their sources of livelihood were destroyed. The seeds that South Africans are beginning to plant, the actual result that will be at hand, will be where all Africans will be at stake. Our welfare everywhere in the whole globe cannot be guaranteed.
Mr Speaker, today Dr Kwame Nkrumah can sleep and sleep well, but I cannot say the same for President Nelson Mandela. He is turning in his grave because of the inaction of our fellow black South Africans. For several decades, we joined forces with them, we stood toe-to-toe with them, we solidarised with them, we fought to reduce and then remove the system of the apartheid government.
Mr Speaker, today, the same people have vindicated the whites of Africa, that they can look at the colour of our skin and yet it does not really matter. They can fight us, and can even kill us. This is the height of inhumanity, and it must be roundly condemned.
Mr Speaker, we are told that immigrants in South Africa are leading to unemployment rates. South Africa, for the record, has about 32.7 per cent unemployment rates, and if immigrants from some other parts of Africa constitute about four to five per cent, just take away five per cent from 32 per cent, and it makes nonsense of this whole thing.
No wonder Mr Julius Malema has described it as madness at its height; I salute him. This is sheer madness, and it is a blatant failure of the government in South Africa. It is a lazy approach to solving what they think is a problem.
Mr Speaker, I agree with earlier speakers that we must treat them as outcasts if need be. We must treat them as pariahs. They are not welcome in our midst, and that is the only language they understand. Within the diplomatic circle, there is the principle of reciprocity. It is not as if we do not have the capacity; we can even exert more harm and more violence, but we will choose the path of civility simply because we are still the torchbearers of the principle of PanAfricanism.
We really want our shining star, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, to keep sleeping —
Hon Dominic Bingab Aduna Nitiwul
Bimbilla
Mr Speaker, this is an important Statement. So, let us speak to it because the lives of our people are at stake.
Mr Speaker, there is a Statement attributed to the former President of Zimbabwe, Dr Robert Mugabe. When he said that, with some South Africans— I do not want to say all South Africans, with some black South Africans, all that is needed is when they see the corpse of a white person, they will salute that corpse. But when they see a black man, they will take sticks to kill that black man.
It sounds like what is happening in South Africa today, but let me state that not all South Africans are xenophobic; not all South Africans are attacking the blacks. But some South Africans are just behaving as if they do not know that there is tomorrow.
Mr Speaker, it is unfortunate for anybody to say, “Go back to your country because you have messed it up.” We have Nigeriens in Ghana here; We have Togolese in Ghana here; We have Nigerians in Ghana here; We have Malians in Ghana here; We have South Africans in Ghana here. If our country is messed up, they would not be here. There are thousands of them, and they are working peacefully. We are accommodating millions of other people, our brothers, some of whom are not even from this continent. That is Ghana for you.
I have gone to South Africa more than 20 times. I appreciate the situation some of them find themselves in. At the roadside in the morning, one would see young able men running just to look for a pickup because there is some work somewhere, and whoever gets into the pickup first is the one who gets the work for the day. Then one can understand the situation they face themselves. But instead of venting their anger on the people who have caused it — they have taken all their lands.
Over 90 per cent of the arable lands in South Africa do not belong to the indigenous people. They are venting their anger on the wrong people. Three hundred or more Ghanaians left South Africa. How many jobs did they take from these 300 Ghanaians? How many jobs did they get from these Nigerians who left? They say “they are taking our jobs” and that “they should go back because you are taking our jobs.” How many jobs did they get from the 300 Ghanaians? How many jobs did they get from the 400 Nigerians who left?
Mr Speaker, our Government did well to evacuate the Ghanaians who wanted to come home, but they should do more. If there are more Ghanaians who want to come home, they should bring them back, and only make sure that when they come back, they find something to do. But just to bring them and leave them to their own fate can be very demoralising because they had jobs that they were doing there. However, for the fear of their own lives, they had to leave and come. Let no African nation think that they can be an island alone; it is not true.
Let no country in Africa think that they alone can be independent; it is not true. They will need the other Africans. If Ghana or West African nations decide today that they are boycotting South African goods, the economy of South Africa will collapse. In fact, if the entire Africa decide today that, they will not conduct any business with South Africa, the next day, South Africans will die in their millions, because their economy will collapse. They depend on us just as we depend on them. Some South African businesses such as Game, Shoprite, DSTV, MTN and others are here making millions and taking them back to South Africa to support them.
So Mr Speaker, let us condemn the few South Africans who think their elections are coming up and anytime that is about happening, they do this. Let us condemn it. But let the South African Government be ruthless in doing their work. I would appeal to them not to be afraid of losing votes. They should do the right thing. But if because of votes, everybody will cave in and make promises that they cannot fulfil, then it is a bad system of a weak government.
Mr Speaker, I say that as Africans, let us stand together. When we gained our independence, we could have decided that we do not care about Africa, but we did not do that. We said that the only way Ghana can be self-respected and be all right is when all of Africa is liberated. That was what our founding fathers did. So let South Africans know that, those who sacrificed for them are today the same people they think they can maltreat. They would not be able to maltreat us—
Hon Alhassan Tampuli Sulemana
Gushegu
Mr Speaker, I want to first of all appreciate the Statement that has been ably made by Mr Dafeamekpor.
Mr Speaker, I read the Statement twice and if I were to write it, I could not have written it any better. I mean, it has captured every part of the situation. It is very sad that we are here not celebrating each other, but to comment on attacks on one another.
Mr Speaker, in my previous office at the Ministry of Transport, I had the duty of assisting airlines operating in Ghana to go to South Africa to service their aircrafts and also to train their engineers. That was a business that was generating South Africa huge amounts of money. There was a time that South Africa had a situation with their electricity supply and for that matter, it was difficult for our engineers to get the training that they needed.
Because they could not get electricity availability at the time that they needed to do the work. But we insisted that they must go to South Africa. They had options to go to France or Germany, but we said that that Business must stay in Africa and that is the spirit that we should have towards one another.
Mr Speaker, just like Mr Nitiwul said, we have to also sympathise with the black South Africans to a very large extent. If one looks at the percentage of agricultural land ownership, white South Africans who account for 7 per cent of the population, account for 72 per cent of agricultural land. Seven per cent against 72 per cent and the black population accounts for only 4 per cent, that is how sad the situation is.
Mr Speaker, much as we have to call out the rednecks in South Africa, we also have to find a way to assist them to be able to get into the commanding heights of the South African economy. They have been impoverished for far too long and they have to recognise that black Africans are their allies and not their foes. They are venting their spleen, deflecting their attacks on the wrong people.
Mr Speaker, countries bordering South Africa have porous borders, for instance, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia. All these countries’ borders are such a way that one can bath in the morning and go to the other country to go and rub pomade on yourself. So, how does one intentionally attack people who are their own? We have the same situation across our borders.
In Togo, one goes to Pusiga and finds houses sitting on the border between Ghana and then Togo. So, we are one people. The fact that we are far away from one another does not mean that we are not the same people and that is the spirit in which Pan-Africanism was fought for. We conducted that business and gave South African leaders passports. They used Ghanaian passports, examples of such people are O. R. Tambo, Mandela and Thabo Mbeki’s father among others. We support them actively. We gave them funding. The likes of Nkrumah and Kenneth Kaunda supported them actively.
Mr Speaker, I am sad about one thing, that if one looks at the people who are protesting, one would have thought that they were essentially Generation Zs. But if one looks there, one would find people from Generation X, aged 45 to 50 years and above, leading this charge. So, they reasonably ought to know the history of their country.
Mr Speaker, much as we condemn that, I think we should also have some empathy for the vulnerable who genuinely have a case; we need to speak for them.
I thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and I commend Mr Dafeamekpor for the Statement. Thank you.
Hon George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan
Cape Coast South
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, I want to point out that, in the earlier one, you did not ask Leadership to comment.
So, I want to take the opportunity to commend on Hon Patricia for the Statement that she read about the impact of population dynamics in ageing, retirement and pension, and Hon Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor for this very important Statement.
Mr Speaker, when my Hon Brother drew a reference to the 1969 Aliens Compliance Order, he was not actually insinuating the political—that is how I understood it. He was more or less looking at it from an economic standpoint, because as it did happen in 1969, it did also happen in Nigeria in 1983. It happened in Uganda somewhere in the 70s. It happened in Zimbabwe.
The trend is there. In all of it, when we look at it, the underlying issue was more economic than political. As people are made to believe in South Africa, that the challenges that they are having in their life is as a result of the foreigners who have come there to legally, some illegally of course, to work and earn a living for themselves. We rather need to look at the causes of these problems across the continent. We have South African companies here, as it has been, said earlier.
In fact, the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) that we are trying to promote in Africa to do with free movement of goods and people which has its headquarters here, is headed by a South African. So, it tells you that in the end, we are trying to achieve the same thing. We must not use this issue of when people are having challenges instead of the leaders promoting policies—
Of course, the South African issue is to do with the legacy of apartheid, where majority of their lands are still with the whites, but also difficult or bad economic policies that have obviously affected the people of South Africa. Instead of directing their anger to the right places, they are choosing to do that on foreigners who are in the country.
The same thing that happened here in 1969, that when we thought the Nigerians were here to take our jobs, is the same thing the Nigerians did, that they thought Ghanaians were there to take their jobs. We have to address this issue peacefully and not to result to any form of violence. I think the Government of Ghana has handled the issue well. They are still handling it well. We need to do this diplomatically and not through retaliation.
We need to find a way to send our protest to the right places, especially people who should be talking. The South African leadership itself, the African Union, we need to hear from all of them. We will try to find a way to address this issue.
Mr Speaker, I will want to thank the maker of the Statement again, and thank “Mama Pat” as well for her Statement that she made earlier. Thank you very much.
AskParly