Right Honourable Sameer Gaffar Suleman, President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Africa Region and Speaker of the National Assembly of Malawi,
Honourable Refilwe Mtshweni-Tshipane, Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces,
Honourable Morakane Mosupyoe, Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature,
Speakers and Presiding Officers,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the President of the Republic of South Africa his Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, his Excellency Paul Mashatile I join the speaker of Gauteng in welcome you to Gauteng and to the Republic of South Africa.
We meet as custodians of democratic institutions and partners in Africa’s development journey. I welcome you to South Africa and to this conference on strengthening parliamentary democracy across Africa.
Programme Director,
At the outset, let me observe that this Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth Africa Region takes place in a space, on a day and during a week that carry the weight of history and the urgency of the present.
Like the traditional African pot, the moment we are in rests on three legs: the significance of the place in which we meet, the history carried by this day and the meaning of the week before us. Each leg offers a point of reflection for our deliberations in the coming days.
The first leg is the significance of this place.
As many of you will know, this venue was the seat of the Multiparty Negotiating Process. It was here that the door was prised open to the new South Africa on which generations of activists, at home and abroad, had their sights set.
Within these walls and along these corridors, sworn enemies found common ground to reach an agreement. That agreement laid the foundations for a Constitution that is widely acclaimed for its affirmation of human dignity, democratic values and social justice.
This year, we mark 30 years since the adoption of that Constitution, the birth certificate of our young democracy.
Excellencies,
The second leg is the 50th anniversary of the 1976 youth uprising, an uprising that began in Soweto on this day and soon spread across the country.
As we reflect on that chapter, one lesson stands out. The 1976 generation accords special importance to the independence of Angola and Mozambique as precursors to the uprising.
Those victories shaped their consciousness and strengthened their conviction that, just as Portuguese colonialism had been defeated, apartheid too could be brought to its knees.
The story of Africa’s contribution to our freedom struggle comes sharply into view through the 1976 generation. Across the continent, your countries became safe havens for young people fleeing repression and determined to return home to a free South Africa.
That contribution is not lost on us. Indeed, our final victory over apartheid would not have been possible without the unwavering solidarity of different generations of Africans on the continent and in the diaspora.
The third of this proverbial African pot is the significance of the days ahead, when the world marks World Refugee Day on 20 June.
Together, these three legs bring a pressing question into sharp focus: how does migration, as one of the defining realities of the 21st century, connect with the aspirations of the world’s most youthful continent?
Let us consider the picture as it is today.
More than 45 million Africans live outside their countries of birth. Over half, or around 25 million, reside in another African country.
This challenges the image of Africa as a continent of mass exodus. In fact, most Africans who leave their countries remain on the continent.
Migration also features increasingly in the plans of young Africans. A 2025 Afrobarometer survey across 38 countries found that nearly six in ten people aged between 18 and 25 had considered leaving their countries in search of better prospects.
Work and relief from economic hardship are the principal motivations. For many young Africans, migration is less a free choice than a response to constrained prospects at home.
In this search for better life prospects, South Africa emerges as a leading destination for migrants who come primarily from the SADC countries but also increasingly from the broader continent, Europe and Asia.
Our own statistics along with those of the International Organisation for Migration estimate our migrant population to be in the range of 3 and 4 million or roughly 5% and 7% of our population. Crucially, as observed by the World Bank in 2019, international migration statistics seldom account for irregular or undocumented migrants.
Indeed, all major migrant receiving countries – South Africa included – face the challenge of irregular migration.
Distinguished colleagues,
This movement coincides with a hardening of attitudes towards migrants and refugees across many parts of the world.
The Ipsos Global Attitudes Survey of more than 30 000 adults across 52 countries, shows that while there remains strong support for offering refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, public attitudes towards refugees are hardening.
Across Africa, only 28% of those surveyed by Afrobarometer believe their governments should admit refugees at current or higher levels.
Closer to home, the Human Sciences Research Council reports that negative sentiment towards migrants is at its highest level since the early 2000s, with the sharpest rise among poorer and working-class communities since the COVID-19 pandemic.
These findings should concern every parliament represented here.
Across the world, regressive political movements are gaining support by mobilising resentment against migrants and refugees. The politics of division, exclusion and scapegoating is becoming increasingly common.
But we should also be honest about what lies beneath these developments.
For decades, our societies have experienced escalating conflict, deindustrialisation, weakening labour protections and stagnant economies that have failed to positively change the fate of ordinary people. Pandemics and raging wars have only deepened many of these fissures.
At the same time, global inequality is widening, with top 10% owning roughly 75% of global wealth, while the bottom 50% own merely 2%.
And while migrants did not create these problems, they have increasingly become convenient targets for frustrations rooted in much deeper economic and social challenges, contestation for limited economic opportunities, jobs and access to services like health care and education.
Let me state this unequivocally: There is no excuse for violence against foreign nationals in our society.
Violence directed at migrants and refugees is a blight on our democracy and a betrayal of our Constitution’s promise of dignity, equality and fundamental human rights for all.
The intimidation of migrants, looting of businesses and destruction of property are reprehensible acts of vigilantism. They threaten our democracy and risk tearing apart our relationship with the continent and the world.
These actions do not represent the position of the South African Government.
The responsibility for enforcing immigration law rests with the state and the state alone. No grievance, however legitimate, gives any individual or organisation the authority to demand identity documents, remove people from public facilities, or drive them from their homes and businesses.
The state will act against those responsible and against those who exploit concerns about irregular migration to advance political, personal or criminal agendas.
At the same time, we must be candid about the complexity of our situation.
Uncontrolled migration can be a source of instability. This is why it is vital that migration be managed in a lawful, orderly and humane manner.
The integrity of our borders is essential to the safety and prosperity of all who call South Africa home.
Government must plan for housing, healthcare, education, transport and other public services. That becomes far more difficult when migration flows are poorly managed.
The pressure is particularly acute in an economy that has grown slowly and failed to create enough jobs. Competition is felt most sharply in sectors marked by low wages, insecure employment and poor working conditions.
Our labour inspections have exposed employers who exploit undocumented migrant workers, undermine labour standards and pit workers against each other.
We are determined to put an end to this practice. Employers who violate labour and immigration laws must face serious consequences.
We are strengthening the capacity needed to enforce our laws by harmonising our immigration frameworks and confronting corruption within the system.
The commonwealth instruments should help us with dealing with misinformation and build early warning systems.
In the same vein we must separate facts from fake news as we deal with the protest in South Africa, we warn of the rapid spread of misinformation through social media and sometimes through official channels not verifying information.
During the current wave of violent anti-immigration protests unfortunately 2 Mozambican nationals were killed in Mossel Bay, and the South African government has condemned the incident with strongest terms, and the police are investigating these cases. No other Foreign National was killed as it has been widely reported.
No Nigerian National or Ghanaian national has been killed according to the verified information of the South African police Services, and again no Ethiopian national has been killed instead according to the South Africa Police they’re investigating a possibility of gang violence in relations to the death of the 5 Ethiopian nationals in other words gang violence and intra rivalry for trade amongst the Ethiopian nationals, we will hear the real motive upon the conclusion of the investigation.
The narrative of fake news.
You will be here for the next three days or so I invite you to take the excursion opportunities to visit some of our Townships and residences and also engage with African diaspora in South Africa from some of your countries, urge them to be law abiding citizens. There are Ambassadors of your countries when they’re here and should abide by the law and contribute positively to the economy of our country.
We have approximately 13 000 prisoners in our prisons from the African continent.
Programme Director,
Migration has always been part of South Africa’s story and heritage. Our mines, farms, cities and industries were built by generations of migrant workers from across Southern Africa and within South Africa itself.
This is the reason our young democracy approached migration with an unwavering humanitarian and Pan-African commitment.
We enshrined the rights of migrants in our Constitution, acceded to international conventions protecting migrants and refugees, restored citizenship to people whom it was arbitrarily denied, and dismantled racist policies that had favoured white migrants from neighbouring countries and further afield.
We also removed barriers that had dangerously separated South Africa from its neighbours.
Three decades later, we remain committed to that humanitarian and Pan-African vision: an open society governed by law, anchored in human dignity and attentive to the legitimate needs of its people.
But we are also aware that we cannot manage this challenge alone. We must work with our neighbours in the region and the broader continent to address the root causes driving the flow of movement to South Africa.
That means ending conflict and persecution, building productive economies, creating jobs for young people and deepening regional integration.
As you deliberate in the days ahead, may the symbolism of this place give you the courage to confront difficult questions, bridge differences and find common ground – as parliamentarians are called upon to do.
May the significance of this day remind us that the young people of our youthful continent are growing impatient with democracies that do not deliver on socio-economic outcomes. They want better lives, decent work and real opportunities.
They want to see African critical minerals being processed at source and they want to be the drivers of innovation in AI and green economies not consumer.
And as we approach World Refugee Day, amid an atmosphere charged with fear and uncertainty, may we be reminded of the urgency of addressing the political, economic, and social conditions that compel so many of our people to be on the move.
I wish you fruitful deliberations.
Thank you.
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