Ramaphosa to dispatch diplomatic envoys across Africa as migration issues mount

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government will dispatch envoys across Africa and around the world to build international co-operation on migration.

The president on Thursday used Kenyan President William Ruto’s state visit to South Africa to position the two countries as a co-ordinated African diplomatic force in an increasingly fractured global order.

Ramaphosa said South Africa is already consulting governments across Africa on migration management. He said the country wants to understand how other countries had dealt with border pressures. He did not specify when the envoys will be deployed or which countries will be prioritised.

He said the two countries are also aligned on regional peace dossiers, with Kenya playing a role in Sudan, and South Africa engaged on South Sudan.

Both leaders have domestic economies that are under pressure. Ruto has contended with cost-of-living and fuel protests at home, while Ramaphosa has had to manage sporadic violence directed at immigrants in low-income areas and mounting political scrutiny over border enforcement.

The visit came against the backdrop of speculation over tension between the two governments after Ruto skipped a G20 gathering in South Africa and Ramaphosa did not attend an Africa-Forward summit in Kenya. Officials from both countries publicly dismissed suggestions of any strain ahead of the visit.

Speaking at a media briefing with Ruto at the Union Buildings on Thursday, Ramaphosa said migration has become a continental and global challenge requiring co-ordinated diplomatic engagement rather than isolated national responses.

“Yes, there will be envoys. Yes, there will be people that we will send out, not only on the continent but also around the world,” Ramaphosa said. “Africa should develop a much stronger method of helping each other to resolve problems, continental problems and national problems.”

Ruto’s three-day state visit, which included bilateral talks, a signing ceremony and an evening business forum, is aimed at elevating ties between East and Southern Africa’s two largest economies into what both governments described as a strategic partnership. The presidents signed six memorandums of agreement spanning trade, transport, tourism and agriculture.

South Africa’s exports to Kenya exceed R1bn a year, and at least 60 South African companies operate there. Kenya remains South Africa’s largest trading partner on the continent outside the Southern African Development Community.

The visit also brought into focus growing co-ordination between Pretoria and Nairobi on global governance reform and Africa’s positioning amid intensifying competition between the US, China, Russia and Europe for influence on the continent.

Ruto said African countries are no longer observers in global affairs.

“For a very long time our voice, our ideas, our proposals did not find [their] way to the forum of fora that then would influence global discourse,” he said. “South Africa became the first African to host the G20 … We commend South Africa, and President Ramaphosa specifically, for taking the stage and positioning Africa rightfully.”