ACCRA/JOHANNESBURG, July 7 (Reuters) – Ghana has postponed bilateral meetings with South Africa that were planned for next month because of a surge in anti-migrant violence in the country, Ghana’s government spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu told local radio station Joy FM the violence would probably have overshadowed the August meetings, which were set to be hosted by Ghana and co-chaired by South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama.
It would be better for the two sides to meet “when matters settle,” Kwakye Ofosu said.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Reuters the meetings of the South Africa-Ghana Bi-National Commission had been discussed months ago and Johannesburg learned about Ghana’s intention to defer them when it sought to confirm them.
South Africa has seen waves of anti-migrant protests over the past few months which have been mostly peaceful but at times turned violent, with attacks on foreign nationals and looting of foreign-owned shops.
Ghana repatriated hundreds of its citizens ahead of a June 30 “deadline” set by a South African anti-migrant movement for undocumented foreigners to leave.
Kwakye Ofosu said Ghana valued its relationship with South Africa and it would be appropriate for Ramaphosa to visit “when the issue of xenophobic attacks no longer hangs over such discussions”.
Magwenya said South Africa and Ghana would “continue to engage through diplomatic channels to identify a mutually convenient date for the next session of the commission.”
Ghana’s foreign ministry said last week that a Ghanaian national was shot dead in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township during anti-immigrant demonstrations on June 30.
South African police said they had no record of such an incident on that day.
They said a Ghanaian national was killed a day earlier in a different Cape Town settlement but that incident was believed to be linked to extortion, not anti-migrant sentiment.
(Reporting by Emmanuel Bruce and Nilutpal Timsina;Writing by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Alexander Winning and Tomasz Janowski)
