African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says the party has drafted a new policy document, the Continental Compact on Migration in Africa, that seeks to shift Africa’s approach to migration from a fragmented response to a coherent, binding framework.
Mbalula was addressing the media in Johannesburg, following the widely publicised 30 June nationwide protests against undocumented foreign nationals.
He says government deployees are urged to table it before the African Union as a foundation for a coordinated, continent-wide strategy to manage migration.
The party’s secretary-general further highlighted that the draft policy is designed to address structural migration and socio-economic challenges, serving as a formal, lawful alternative to vigilantism and violent community flare-ups.
“South Africa itself, on the 2022 census, is home to some 3.95 million foreign-born residents, 6.5% of our people, with all the pressure that places upon our clinics, our schools, and our services. It is for this reason that we have prepared a Continental Compact on migration in Africa, and the ANC urges our deployees in government to take it up and to place it before the African Union as the foundation for a lasting African answer.
“The compact asks African states, acting together through the African Union and supported by the United Nations, to move from a fragmented and reactive posture to a coherent framework of binding commitments, closing the gaps in our legal architecture through universal accession to the refugee, migrant worker, and statelessness conventions and the coming into force of the 2018 African Union free movement protocol. Building the operational machinery the continent has long lacked – from an African refugee responsibility allocation mechanism to a continental migration data platform and an orderly prisoner repatriation protocol – while establishing a continental responsibility-sharing framework and fund so that receiving states no longer carry the burden alone.”
Peaceful protests
Mbalula commends South Africans for conducting the June 30 anti-illegal immigration protests peacefully, stating that essential services and schools remained operational.
Mbalula has, however, condemned ongoing anti-immigrant marches and citizen-led shutdowns, emphasising that addressing illegal immigration is the sole responsibility of the state.
He’s praised law enforcement authorities for detaining more than 900 protestors nationwide for allegedly inciting public violence.
“On the 30th of June, the country stood firm. They called for a shutdown. South Africa did not shut down. Our children went to school. Our workers went to work. Our buses, our taxis, and our trains ran. Our clinics and our shops stayed open. The economy kept its feet. And we foresee no great job losses from the action.
“For this, we thank the overwhelming majority of South Africans who refused to be conscripted into anarchy. And we thank the men and women of the South African police service for maintaining law and order in the republic. The border management authority for the sterling job they are doing on a daily basis. And our security services, who stood their ground with professionalism and restraint. Where there was violence. Intimidation and looting because there was. The law took its course,” he says.
