Ghana delays visit by South African president amid row over anti-migrant protests

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. Ghana delays visit by South African president amid row over anti-migrant protestsImage source, via Getty ImagesImage caption, President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to fly to Ghana next monthByThomas NaadiBBC Africa, Reporting fromAccraPublished7 July 2026, 16:53 BSTUpdated 34 minutes agoGhana has postponed a visit by South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa following xenophobic rallies that resulted in hundreds of Ghanaians being repatriated from his country. Ramaphosa had long planned a state visit to Ghana in the first week of August, and it had been hoped this would help de-escalate tensions between the two nations. But many in Ghana feared his presence would lead to mass protests there.

On Tuesday, government spokesman Felix Kwakye Ofosu told the the visit would not happen for the time being. ''We sent them a communication indicating that it would be best to defer the visit in view of the present climate around xenophobia," he explained. South Africa has sought to play things down, with presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya telling the of the country's unwavering commitment to "deepening cooperation" between the "two sister nations" and "advancing the African Agenda".

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"The two countries will continue to engage through diplomatic channels to identify a mutually convenient date," he said. 'They came with machetes' - deadline looms for migrants to leave South Africa Published17 June'We have to prioritise South Africans': Anti-migrant movement blocks foreigners from healthcare Published18 October 2025Diplomatic tensions between the two nations heightened after a video went viral of Emmanuel Asamoah, a young Ghanaian living in South Africa, being confronted and told to ''go fix his country''. Ghana has since repatriated more than 900 of its citizens from South Africa, and the last batch of over 900 others is expected to be brought home in the coming weeks.

Other African countries - including Nigeria, Malawi and Kenya - have also been repatriating their nationals from South Africa because of ongoing protests against foreigners. Some groups gave undocumented migrants a deadline of 30 June to leave the country and about 25,000 have been repatriated so far. Ramaphosa has said that people have a right to protest as long as they were peaceful.

He also said he would do more to tackle irregular migration. Image source, via Getty ImagesImage caption, Anti-foreigner protests have led to thousands of people fleeing South Africa for their home countries elsewhere on the continentThe row escalated last week when Ghana condemned the alleged killing of Bahiru Isak, a 40-year-old Ghanaian national living in the Khayelitsha suburb of Cape Town in South Africa. Ghanaian officials said he was killed during anti-immigration protests on 30 June.

South African authorities however say no such killing happened, and insist the only Ghanaian victim was 35-year-old Kwabena Boagen whose death they say was not related to the protests.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.