Ghana‘s President John Mahama Thursday doubled down on his call for the African Union to address recent waves of anti-immigrant violence in South Africa, which he said was “escalating”.

Two Ghanaians have meantime petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate “repeated xenophobic attacks” in South Africa, a move Pretoria has dismissed as “opportunistic”.

South Africa, which has long drawn documented and undocumented African workers, has been rocked by weeks of protests and unrest targeting immigrants, who are accused of taking jobs and resources.

More than 160,000 foreign nationals have left the country and several have died over the past two months as local groups increased violent hostility against undocumented migrants, putting Pretoria’s relations with other African governments under strain.

Read moreOn the ground: Thousands of foreign nationals leave South Africa

Ghana first pushed for the AU to debate the violence in May, with Mahama noting that AU Commission chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf had acknowledged the “urgent need” to table it for discussion at the bloc’s next summit due in February next year.

“Placing this on the AU agenda gives South Africa a formal, constructive platform to share its perspective, and together, as a continent, work toward a lasting solution,” Mahama said in a social media post on Thursday. 

On Wednesday, Mahama held talks with the AU chief on the sidelines of an AU meeting in Accra where he said “it doesn’t appear that the South African authorities are responding to the magnitude that one would expect them to”.

“The persons who are funding these xenophobic attacks are known and they have been left free to continue to do what they want to do,” he said in remarks broadcast by Ghana media.

He said the AU should take an “interest” in the matter which “has the potential to wreck everything that we have worked for, African solidarity, African integration”.

Youssouf said violence was a “big source of concern” for the commission and that he had a month ago met South Africa’s foreign minister Ronald Lamola who said illegal migrants should be handled through proper legal channels.  

Despite the pledges, “we see that these people who are harassing our African fellow citizens are free to do what they want”, said Youssouf. 

‘No ill will’

In a petition submitted to the ICC on July 15, Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, a former Ghanaian government spokesperson, and a counterterrorism analyst Emmanuel Kotin alleged that South African authorities had “failed” to protect foreign nationals from “unlawful killings” and “hate speech”.

Earlier this month, Ghana postponed a planned visit by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Accra following the death of a Ghanaian national, although South African authorities said the killing was not linked to the anti-immigrant protests.

“We allege that there has been a failure of state authorities to prevent, investigate, and prosecute these acts, amounting to acquiescence and potential state responsibility,” they said in the petition. 

A South African government spokesman Chrispin Phiri said the petition did not meet the threshold for an ICC investigation, adding that the country has laws to punish “hate crimes and hate speech”.

Ramaphosa earlier this week sent his foreign minister Lamola to meet Mahama. 

Mahama said he told him that Ghana has “no ill will toward South Africa” but remained “deeply concerned” about the attacks and “significant capital losses” by Africans affected by the violence.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)