The African Federation of Miners and Mineral Wealth has demanded that South Africa immediately end all attacks on African workers and called on the African Union to intervene, warning that silence threatens continental unity, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Ryan Chigoche
The official statement, issued from the Federation’s Cairo headquarters and signed by General Secretary Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, declares that African workers are “not enemies of the South African people” but an essential part of the continent’s workforce.
The appeal follows a wave of unlawful xenophobic attacks across South Africa. African foreign nationals, mainly from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Ghana, have been increasingly targeted.
Rights groups and local witnesses say authorities have done very little to stop the violence, with few arrests and little protection for migrant workers in mining towns and informal settlements.
The Federation reminded all parties that African nations stood side by side with South Africans during the anti-apartheid struggle, providing political, trade union, and popular support until freedom prevailed.
“It is therefore unacceptable today for African citizens to face humiliation, persecution, and violence on African soil,” the statement reads.
The AFMMW issued five specific demands to the South African government. First, it must take immediate and decisive measures to end all attacks against African workers, especially miners. Second, it must investigate, prosecute, and hold accountable all individuals and groups involved in violence and incitement. Third, it must guarantee the protection, dignity, legal rights, and safety of all African nationals residing and working in South Africa. Fourth, it must launch comprehensive national campaigns against xenophobia. Fifth, it must protect African workers in the mining, industrial, and informal sectors from discrimination, targeting, and violence.
The Federation also called on the African Union to adopt a clear, principled position on the violations. It urged the AU to convene emergency African consultations to address the escalating attacks and defend the principles of African unity, freedom of movement, and the dignity of African workers.
Warning of the consequences of inaction, the Federation said that failing to speak out against these crimes threatens the future of African unity and solidarity. “The unity of African peoples is a red line,” the declaration reads. “African workers will never be divided.”
The statement concludes with rallying slogans: “Long live African unity. Long live African workers’ solidarity. No to xenophobia. No to violence against Africans.”
The Ghanaian government evacuated hundreds of citizens from South Africa in response to a wave of anti-African migrant protests and increasing xenophobic tensions. Demonstrators targeted both legal and undocumented immigrants, accusing foreign nationals of driving up unemployment, committing crimes, and straining public resources.
Currently, leaders of March and March, the anti-Black African immigration movement, have set the 30th of June 2026 as a final date for all African illegal immigrants to leave South Africa.
