South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has sent a delegation to Ghana to discuss the recurring xenophobic attacks against other Africa nationals in South Africa, Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, has disclosed.
Mahama says the engagement offers Ghana the opportunity to openly address an issue that continues to concern many African countries.
South Africans have attacked many African nationals, including Ghanaians and Nigerians, where the Ghana Government had to evacuate some of its citizens, with the last batch expected to be brought home later this month.
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President Mahama made the disclosure on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, when he received the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, H.E. Mahamoud Ali Youssou, at the Jubilee House in Accra.
According to him, he used the opportunity to tell express Ghana’s position on the matter to the delegation, insisting that confronting the issue openly was vital in finding a lasting resolution to it.
“On, July 21, President Cyril Ramaphosa sent a delegation to me, and I explained the reason why we need to discuss it. Sometimes these things happen, and we want to sweep them under the carpet, but when we do that, we do not cure what the problem is,” he said.
President Mahama stressed that Ghana’s concerns were a constructive effort to encourage greater responsibility to demonstrate measures to finding lasting solution to address the attacks, rather than being interpreted as a hostility towards South Africa.
“I told them that Ghana does not harbour any malice against South Africa, but we are raising it so it gives them the platform to explain what they are doing to the world.”
President Mahama further appealed to the African Union to play a more active role in tackling the recurring incidents, warning that xenophobic violence undermines the continent’s aspirations for unity, free movement and regional integration.
He noted that Ghana had incurred considerable costs in evacuating some of its citizens from South Africa following previous attacks, underscoring the broader human and financial consequences of the violence.
Ghana declines Ramaphosa state visit request over xenophobic attacks on Ghanaians in South Africa
