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migrationlatest news & developments
Homeward bound: The first group of 300 Ghanaians departing from OR Tambo International Airport, east of Johannesburg, to Ghana on Wednesday. Photo: Ghana High Commission, South Africa

Ghana repatriates 300 citizens from SA

The rare voluntary state-assisted return for Ghanaians, which comes amid rising anti-immigrant sentiment, has sparked debate on xenophobia, migration policy and precedent

Africa’s migration challenge cannot be resolved through enforcement alone. Nor can it be addressed through abstract continental declarations disconnected from implementation realities.

From migration pressure to development architecture: Why Africa needs an economic diplomacy framework

At present, most policy responses remain fragmented. Governments focus on border enforcement, documentation systems, policing and short-term political responses. Yet these…

Afro soul star: Berita will be holding a special Workers’ Day performance at The Market Theatre.

Berita’s ‘Echoes of The Soul’: A meditation on migrant workers

Berita’s Workers’ Day performance becomes a powerful meditation on migration, memory and xenophobia in a nation built through labour, movement and forgotten solidarities

Global reality: Africa plays an increasingly central role in global debates surrounding development finance, climate governance, migration and international peace and security yet it does not have influence. Photo: APS

“You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate”

As the global order becomes more multipolar, opportunities for African agency are expanding. Yet these opportunities will only translate into meaningful influence if African…

Effective border management relies on both strong infrastructure and intelligence-driven cooperation with neighbouring states. Photo: Supplied

Order at the border: Illegal migration and the state’s responsibility

A responsible approach to the migration question must recognise the dignity of migrants and the state’s governance responsibilities

Author: Abdulrazak Gurnah at LiteretureXchange Festival (2025
Denmark) Photo: Hreinn Gudlaugsson

Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Theft: A story of servitude, survival and the search for home

Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah returns with Theft, a moving portrait of loss, longing, and the elusive idea of home.

Members of Operation Dudula prevented people from other African countries from using South African health facilities. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G

ActionSA pushes for constitutional change as Operation Dudula  targets migrants at clinics

The Human Rights Commission and legal experts say the Constitution, the National Health Act, the UN Refugee Convention and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights…

A moment to reflect: The US is politicising the issue of asylum, but in South Africa some populist politicians do the same. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

SA politicians also weaponise migration

South Africa must rid itself of issues that prevent a fair, rights-based approach to people’s mobility

Cogta and Salga are  pushing for an amendment Bill that seeks to remove the undue influence of smaller parties on the appointment of political office bearers in municipalities to be approved as law by next year’s elections.
 (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

2024: The year democracy was tested in Africa

Coming on the heels of seven coups since 2020, 19 countries held elections but with mixed outcomes

With nearly 2 500 people killed in recent Israeli strikes on Lebanon, nobody in the country is safe, and the only help for Africans is from other migrant workers. (Photo by Ahmad Kaddoura/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Africans trapped in Lebanon by ‘kafala’ labour system and Israel’s bombs

With nearly 2 500 people killed in recent Israeli strikes on Lebanon, nobody in the country is safe, and the only help for Africans is from other migrant workers

The bodies of numerous bee-eaters (above) and swallows who had migrated from the Northern Hemisphere were found around the country. (Supplied)

Scores of migratory birds perished during SA’s recent cold spell

The bodies of numerous bee-eaters and swallows who had migrated from the Northern Hemisphere were found around the country

Four people died last week after a small boat packed with migrants capsized in the Channel in freezing weather conditions

UK set for ruling on plan to deport migrants to Rwanda

Four people died last week after a small boat packed with migrants capsized in the Channel in freezing weather conditions

Prime Minister Mark Rutte

Dutch expected to apologise for 250 years of slavery

Prime minister expected to give speech on ‘meaningful moment’

Operation Dudula members gathered in front of Kalafong and then Hillbrow hospitals to try to stop ‘illegal foreigners’ from receiving healthcare. Photo: File

Scapegoating ‘illegal foreigners’ is no answer to South Africa’s historic, home-grown crises

enophobic opportunists and demagogues steer us away from addressing our own social failures

Africans abroad: Living the dream — in South Africa

Sandras Phiri is a global ‘go-to’ business start-up coach, empowering others and practising entrepreneurship. The born and bred Zambian plies his trade from South Africa and…

Protestors gather In Washington DC after Russia invaded Ukraine. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be firestarter of global economic woes

Developed countries could do much to help counterparts in the developing world weather the current storm

Boris Johnson meets Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. (Photo: AARON CHOWN/AFP via Getty Images)

The UK’s plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda is 21st-century imperialism

Moving unwanted arrivals out of sight grants political footholds to richer nations in host regions

A Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) is seen at Ribanceira Beach, Imbituba, Santa Catarina state, Brazil on July 09, 2019.  (Photo: EDUARDO VALENTE/AFP via Getty Images)

Whale makes unprecedented 10 000km journey from SA to Argentina

Scientists believe she travelled that far to find good food sources, which is a ‘worrying trend’

South Africans and foreign migrants hold banner and shout slogan during a demonstration against xenophobia in Johannesburg, on March 26, 2022 organized by the activist movement against xenophobic attacks Kopanang Africa. Kopanang is a Sotho words meaning “gathering together”. – In recent weeks, scores of protesters in South Africa have been staging demonstrations against undocumented migrants in what they have dubbed “Operation Dudula”, Zulu for “drive back” whose leader Nhlanhla Lux Dlamini was arrested on Thursday according to the police. (EMMANUEL CROSET/AFP via Getty Images)

OPINION | The African immigrant’s blues in SA

A better understanding of the plight of refugees should make African immigrants more welcome on their own continent

South Africa must resist two dangerous temptations simultaneously: the temptation to demonise all foreign nationals and the temptation to silence every concern about illegal immigration through accusations of xenophobia. (Paul Botes)

OPINION | Civil society must lead the response to xenophobic violence

South Africa needs to hold a national conference on xenophobia, which would be the first step towards building a civic infrastructure to fight discrmination against foreign…