We Will Not Be Divided: A Call for African Unity and Peaceful Coexistence

Ghana Diaspora SA was not founded to watch in silence while Africans are attacked on African soil. This post speaks directly, with honesty and with love, to everyone in this country: to our community members who are afraid, to South Africans who are frustrated, and to every person who still believes in what Africa can be.

What South Africa gave to Africa, and what Africa gave back

There is a history that must be spoken plainly right now.

When South Africa's liberation movement was fighting apartheid, it did not fight alone. African nations opened their borders to ANC fighters and political leaders who had been forced into exile. Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana and others sheltered, fed, educated, and stood beside the South African people when they could not stand freely on their own land. They did this at great cost to themselves, at a time when they could barely afford it.

South Africa's own President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged this on Freedom Day 2026, saying: "We did not walk alone into freedom. We were carried by a tide of solidarity from the nations of Africa. These countries opened their borders to our liberation fighters. They shared their bread and their homes. They spoke for us when we could not speak for ourselves."

The children and grandchildren of those nations are now living in South Africa. Some came with permits. Some came without. Many came because South Africa, more than any other country on this continent, was shaped by African solidarity, and they believed it would honour that history.

That debt is not being honoured right now.

What is driving this wave of violence

We do not dismiss the real hardships that ordinary South Africans are facing. South Africa's unemployment rate exceeds 43 percent. Public services are under enormous strain. People are angry, and their anger is understandable.

But migration researchers and economists argue consistently that migrants are not responsible for these conditions. Migrants account for only about 5 percent of South Africa's population and contribute significantly to local economies through entrepreneurship, labour, and trade. Experts contend that migrants have become convenient scapegoats for deeper structural challenges rooted in inequality, weak governance, corruption, and economic stagnation.

Both March and March and Operation Dudula take real grievances and turn them into a simple message: migrants are the problem. In this process, the frustration of real people gets redirected away from the systems that actually caused their suffering, and towards the neighbours living next door.

This is not a new pattern. It has happened in South Africa in 2008, in 2015, in 2019, and now in 2026. Every time, the violence does not create a single job. It does not fix a single hospital. It does not build a single school. It harms people who were already vulnerable, and it leaves the actual causes of poverty and inequality completely untouched.

The June 30 deadline that does not exist

We must address this directly. A forged poster, made to look like an official government document, has been circulating on social media claiming that all undocumented migrants must leave South Africa by 30 June 2026. The South African government has confirmed that this poster is fake and that no such deadline exists. Anti-immigration groups have adopted the date as their own.

We are asking our community: do not make life-altering decisions based on a fabricated document. Do not abandon your home, your business, or your livelihood because of a poster that was designed to frighten you. Contact GDSA if you are unsure what to do. We will give you honest, factual guidance.

What the world is saying

This is not a local story anymore. Ghana and Nigeria have sent aircraft to South Africa to repatriate their nationals, so serious has the situation become. Ghana formally requested a debate at the African Union's Mid-Year Coordination Summit in Cairo on 24 June 2026 on the xenophobic attacks against African nationals in South Africa. South Africa's own Justice Minister warned that the attacks are damaging the country's image abroad and that South African artists and businesses operating on the continent are facing cancellations and backlash as a direct result.

South Africa's standing as a Pan-African leader, as the country that Mandela built, is being measured right now, by every action and every silence.

A message to South Africans of goodwill

We know that the people leading these marches do not speak for all South Africans. We have seen South African neighbours stand in front of migrant homes. We have seen South African colleagues speak up in workplaces. We have seen South African lawyers go to court and win rulings that protect us.

To those South Africans: we see you. We stand with you. The Africa that Nkrumah imagined, that Mandela stood for, that every liberation fighter on this continent died for, was not a continent divided by the accident of national borders. It was a continent that recognised that the freedom of one African is tied to the freedom of all Africans.

That vision is worth defending, even now, especially now.

What GDSA is doing and what you can do

GDSA is coordinating emergency support for community members who have been affected by violence or intimidation. We are working with legal partners to document incidents and pursue accountability. We are feeding information to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and to international advocacy networks.

If you have been affected, contact us. If you know someone who has been threatened, evicted, had goods confiscated, been attacked, or been denied services, tell us. Documentation is protection. Every incident that is recorded is one more piece of evidence in the case for accountability.

We are asking our community to stay calm, stay connected, and stay together. Do not retaliate. Do not isolate yourself. Reach out to your neighbours, your church, your community leaders. Community is what keeps us safe when systems fail us.

Ubuntu means "I am because we are." That is not just a South African saying. It is an African truth. And it has never mattered more than it does today.

GDSA WhatsApp: +27 11 867 2550 (24/7 emergency support)

Email: info@ghanadiasporasa.org