Ghana cannot claim high moral ground over South Africa migrant tensions – Kwesi Pratt Jnr

Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has said Ghana is in no position to claim the high moral ground over the growing hostility towards African migrants in South Africa, arguing that the country has its own history of expelling foreign nationals.

His comments come amid renewed concerns over anti-immigrant sentiments in parts of South Africa, where planned protests and calls for the removal of undocumented foreign nationals have left many African migrants, including Ghanaians, fearing for their safety.

The developments have prompted some Ghanaians living in South Africa to return home while others continue to monitor the situation.

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Speaking on Radio Gold on Sunday, July 5, 2026, Pratt said he had just returned from a four-day visit to Bela-Bela in Limpopo after arriving through Johannesburg and did not personally encounter any form of harassment during his stay.

"I landed in Johannesburg and drove two and a half hours to Bela-Bela in Limpopo. I didn't have a scratch on my skin, nobody asked to see my passport, nothing. I stayed in Bela-Bela for four days... not a whimper against anybody. That's the reality," he said.

Despite his experience, Pratt said conversations with some Ghanaians travelling back to Ghana revealed growing anxiety over the situation. According to him, one traveller said he preferred to leave South Africa temporarily because he was uncertain about what could happen after June 30 and intended to return only if the situation improved.

"One of them told me that he's not sure of what is likely to happen... so he was coming to Ghana to watch the situation and after two or three weeks, depending on his reading of the situation, he may go back or stay," he recounted.

Pratt added that another Ghanaian decided to return home after spending eight months in South Africa without securing a job, saying financial difficulties made it impossible for him to continue staying there.

"Then there's one of them who told me that he's been to South Africa for eight months. He doesn't have a job. He's struggling to find a job... so there's no point risking his life. He decided to come back home, and even coming back home was difficult because he couldn't afford his ticket. It was relatives who bought the ticket for him," he said.

While acknowledging the concerns surrounding the treatment of migrants in South Africa, Pratt said Ghanaians should also remember the country's own history before criticising others.

"Today, this is happening in South Africa and I'm sitting in this studio as a Ghanaian. I find it so difficult to mount any moral high ground because we started it," he stated.

He recalled the 1969 Aliens Compliance Order introduced under the administration of former Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia, which led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals, particularly West Africans, from Ghana.

"We started the Alien Compliance Order, expelled hundreds of thousands of West Africans from Ghana for the same reasons that the March on March movement is marching in the streets of Johannesburg and other places against other Africans. Nigerians died in their hundreds as a result of the implementation of the Alien Compliance Order. Togolese were maltreated. Some of them were beaten and thrown out of their houses. We did it in 1969 or thereabouts under the Busia administration," he said.

Pratt's remarks add a historical perspective to the ongoing debate on migration and xenophobia, suggesting that African countries must confront their own past actions while working collectively to protect the rights, dignity and safety of migrants across the continent.

ANAS/EB

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