Ghana Just Made A HISTORIC Move To Retaliate South Africa’s Xenophobia

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:03]I can't do nothing because the people so called they say this land belongs to them they say go you can't challenge them you have to go and be safe >> my people a Ghanaian plumber packed his bags this week and walked away from the life that he had built in South Africa he left his tools he left his income he left everything and when reporters ask him Why? He said seven words that stopped me in my tracks.

[00:00:34]I got children. I mustn't stay here and lose my life.

[00:00:40]That man boarded a government charted flight home today. And he was not alone.

[00:00:45]Over 800 Ghanaians have voluntarily signed up to leave South Africa.

[00:00:51]Not because they wanted to, but because they no longer feel safe.

[00:00:56]But here's the part of this story that nobody's talking about.

[00:01:00]While that plumber was standing in line at O Tamble airport with his suitcase, his government was doing something else entirely.

[00:01:09]They were sending South Africa a bill.

[00:01:12]Mhm. A $2.3 billion bill in gold.

[00:01:18]Because Ghana controls the fate of South Africa's most profitable mine on the entire continent. And right now, Ara is in no mood to be generous. So today, we're breaking down what is actually driving this crisis, you know, beyond the attacks that we've already talked about in the show. How is Ghana fighting back diplomatically, legally, and now economically?

[00:01:43]What does the gold field standoff mean for both countries?

[00:01:47]And what does all of this reveal about the future of African unity and African power?

[00:01:54]Let's break it down.

[00:02:07]Hello and welcome to the breakdown where we center Africa and the black world in today's global affairs. I'm your host Sandra Babuben. Now if you are new here, welcome to the family. Please take a quick second right now to subscribe to our channel and also tap the notification bell for alerts so you never miss a new show. And before we continue with the show, share this video with your group chats to help us reach more people. And then drop a comment telling me where you're tuning in from.

[00:02:34]Okay, we are a big global family here and I love seeing how far our conversations are reaching. So let me know. Let me hear from you. All right, now let's get into it. If they are not safe in South Africa, they must caution them to go and hop to the next country or come back home. Don't caution them to stay here. We don't want your citizens anymore.

[00:02:54]>> Now, if you've been following the show, then you already know about the xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

[00:03:00]We've covered it multiple times and I will drop some links in the description box in case you want to revisit those episodes for better context. But I do want to give you the current temperature because yes, things have escalated significantly since we last spoke about this. There's a movement in South Africa called March and March. It started in Quazulu Natal and it has been holding protests across the country calling for undocumented foreigners to leave and they've set a deadline. Yes. that the 30th of June date that we have given to for for for for the illegal foreign nationals to vacate the country and and they take it as just another shutdown that the they have seen many so so so it it it for us it seems like it's a government that doesn't take South Africans seriously South Africans are saying they have it enough with illegal foreign nationals and They want them removed from this country. That's basically what the South Africans are saying.

[00:04:09]>> June 30th, 2026.

[00:04:12]That is 5 weeks away. March and March has threatened to shut down the country if the government does not present a clear action plan by that date. Now, the South African government called an urgent high level meeting at the union buildings to respond. ministers went in, leaders of the movement came out, and the movement's leader said he had little confidence in the outcome and that no clear action plan had been presented.

[00:04:43]And so the deadline stands.

[00:04:46]Now, South Africa's government has rejected all claims of xenophobia, consistently framing the demonstrations as legitimate constitutional activities rather than targeted campaigns of hate.

[00:05:00]>> Even in the meeting that we do have an immigration problem, illegal immigration problem with the movement of people coming into our country and we know the challenges that it brings. It brings illicit goods. It brings with it uh the trafficking of people and all manner of things. And what we should be saying is that we we therefore don't need to divide the country as if there are those who stand for illegal migration and there are those who are for illegal immigration. We all as a country stand united against illegal immigration.

[00:05:37]>> But here's the contradiction that is driving the rest of Africa absolutely mad. Yeah. On April 27th, freedom day, President Ramaposa stood up and said this.

[00:05:50]>> We do not walk alone in this freedom, fellow South Africans.

[00:05:57]And we did not walk into this freedom on our own.

[00:06:04]We were carried by a tide of solidarity from the nations of the world, from the nations of Africa.

[00:06:16]These countries opened their borders to our liberation fighters.

[00:06:24]When the aparted government was pursuing our liberation fighters, they ran to a number of countries around the world, but especially on our continent.

[00:06:42]>> We did not walk alone into freedom. We were carried by a tide of solidarity from the nations of Africa. He said that yeah, out loud on freedom day. while Ghanaians and other African nationals were being confronted on the streets of Quazulu and told to go home and fix their country.

[00:07:03]The irony is not lost on anyone and that is the backdrop against which Ghana decided enough is enough.

[00:07:14]So let's talk about what Ghana has actually done because this is not just a diplomatic statement in a strongly worded letter. Okay, this is a coordinated multi-level response. First, the planes. President John Muhammad authorized the immediate repatriation of 300 Ghanaian citizens and Ghana's foreign minister Samuel Okusetu Ablakwa confirmed with a post on X. His Excellency John Muhammad has granted presidential approval for the immediate evacuation of 300 Ghanaians in South Africa. These distressed Ghanaians had earlier complied with the foreign ministry's advisory and registered with our high commission in Pritoria to be rescued following the latest wave of xenophobic attacks. The government of Ghana shall continue to safeguard the welfare of all Ghanaians home and abroad.

[00:08:11]Now, Ghana's High Commissioner Benjamin Quashi confirmed that 826 nationals have actually voluntarily registered to return home with the first 300 cleared to depart this week. Ghana also launched a financial support package for the returning citizens. The life of the ordinary Ghanaian now is one that is um shaped in fear, shaped in intimidation um and also shaped in uncertainty uh because most of them have got their shops closed till today. Uh most of them cannot send their kids to school.

[00:08:48]Obviously most of them cannot engage in any economic activity that he to this current situation they were engaged in.

[00:08:57]These are people who had built their lives there. Traders, plumbers, parents leaving because they do not feel safe.

[00:09:06]Second, the diplomatic offensive.

[00:09:10]Ghana did not just fly people home and go quiet. They went on offense. Ghana's foreign minister Blackwas summoned South Africa's acting high commissioner to formally protest reminding Pritoria of Ara's support during the anti-aparite struggle and stressing that attacks on law-abiding foreigners contradict the very principles of African solidarity.

[00:09:35]Now think about the weight of that language. Ghana is essentially saying we helped you get free and they did and this is what you do with that freedom.

[00:09:46]Third, the African Union petition. Ghana didn't stop at bilateral diplomacy.

[00:09:52]Ghana formally petitioned the African Union to place xenophobic attacks in South Africa on the agenda of the AU midyear coordination meeting which is scheduled for June 24th to 25th in Cairo. In the letter signed by Minister Ablakqua, God described the recurring attacks as an urgent continental matter requiring collective African action, urging that they undermine African unity, solidarity, and the spirit of pan-Africanism.

[00:10:24]That AU meeting is coming up in less than a month. This is going to be on the table in Cairo.

[00:10:31]And Ghana is not alone. Nigeria and Angola have joined Ghana in collecting formal statements from affected traders for collective legal review signaling a unified front. Kenya, Malawi, Lutu, Zimbabwe and Tanzania have all issued travel advisories or raised formal diplomatic concerns.

[00:10:52]This has become a continental standoff, not just a Ghana, South Africa dispute.

[00:10:59]But all of that, the planes, the petition, the summoning of diplomats, is not even the biggest move Ghana is making. The biggest move involves gold >> of economic affairs is mounting a strong opposition to the continued operation of foreign companies in Ghana's extractive sector. This follows Goodfield's limited proposal seeking the renewal of its mining lease of the taco mine as the current mining lease approaches expiration in April 2027. The II says that this is untenable and has asked the government to reject the proposal and instead give it to a local company.

[00:11:38]>> My people, this is the part of the story that I really need you to pay attention to, okay? Because while the diplomatic battles are happening in public, there is a quieter, far more consequential fight that's happening in the background. And it involves a South African mining company, Ghana's most valuable gold mine and a lease that expires in April 2027.

[00:12:04]So, let me set the scene. Gold Fields Taco Mine is the largest open pit gold mine in Ghana. Last year alone, it generated $2.3 billion in revenue and $427 million in net profit. It is one of Goldfield's crown jewels, a South African company operating on Ghanaian soil, extracting Ghanian gold. And guess what? That lease is about to expire. Ghana has now signaled that it will not automatically renew the lease. Mining companies must demonstrate stronger commitments to local value creation, tech transfer and community development and gold fields is required to submit detailed development plans for ministerial review before any extension is decided.

[00:13:00]Now, here's a contest that makes this even more loaded. Okay, this is not Ghana's first move against gold fields.

[00:13:10]Ghana already declined to renew Goldfield's lease for its other mine.

[00:13:14]Yes, there's another one, the Damning Mine, which expired in April. The government assumed control of the asset and awarded operations to a Ghanaian contractor.

[00:13:28]So, Ghana has already done this before to the same company.

[00:13:33]One mine is already gone and now the second, the bigger one is on the line.

[00:13:40]After the damning decision, UBS analysts warned clients that mining lease renewals in Ghana can no longer be assumed to be automatic or rules-based.

[00:13:52]And it gets more complicated. Stay with me. Goldfields has now launched arbitration proceedings against the Ghanian contractor that took over the damning mine.

[00:14:08]And guess who that contractor is?

[00:14:11]The brother of President Mama.

[00:14:17]So Goldfields is suing a company connected to the president's family.

[00:14:22]Yes. While simultaneously asking the president's government to renew his biggest mind. Oh, and I want you to think about that for a second. Ghana's Institute of Economic Affairs has publicly urged the government to reject the Taqu extension decisively calling it deeply enimical to Ghana's long-term economic and strategic interests.

[00:14:49]Former Chief Justice Sophia Akufo made the same argument that Ghana now has sufficient local expertise and indigenous mining firms capable of managing major concessions without foreign multinationals.

[00:15:03]And in public debate, Ghanaian commentators are going even further. On GTV, one analyst argued that the government should write strong letters to MTN to multi- choice and gold fields, all Southern African companies with major operations in Ghana, demanding that they contribute to the repatriation support package for returning citizens.

[00:15:27]MTN, Multi- Choice, that's DSTV, Gold Fields, three of South Africa's biggest corporate presences on the continent, all now being named as pressure points.

[00:15:45]Now, Goldfield's executives are reportedly now lobbying President Ramaposa to personally intervene with President Mahama to save the Taqua lease. Now, I want you to hear that again, okay? A mining company is asking one head of state to call another head of state to rescue a mine.

[00:16:08]That's just how desperate the situation has become.

[00:16:12]So, as of May 2026, renewal negotiations have stalled. The company's efforts to secure engagement with Ghanaian officials have run into difficulties.

[00:16:22]South Africa's xenophobia crisis has now directly threatened one of its most profitable corporate assets on the continent.

[00:16:32]The humanitarian crisis and the economic crisis are the same crisis now.

[00:16:40]Now my people, this is the part that I really want us to sit with because this story is bigger than Ghana, is bigger than gold field, is bigger than one mine. What we're watching right now is a fundamental question about African power being answered in real time. Because for decades, the implicit deal on this continent has been South Africa is the big brother, the economic engine, the anchor of African integration, the country that gets to set the tone.

[00:17:09]But that deal was always built on an assumption, you see, that South Africa would treat the rest of Africa as partners.

[00:17:19]But that assumption is now being publicly tested. And the results are not good. Analysts are warning that xenophobia in Africa is a bottleneck to trade, investment, and integration. And it is. When you consider South Africa's role as the anchor economy of the African continental free trade area, that $3.4 trillion single market vision depends on trust between member states.

[00:17:45]So think about what the African continental free trade area is supposed to be. A continental single market, free movement of of goods, services and people, African countries trading with each other, building together.

[00:18:00]South Africa cannot be the anchor of that vision and simultaneously have a domestic political movement telling Africans to leave by June 30th. It doesn't work that way. I'm sorry. Those two things cannot coexist.

[00:18:14]>> And I heard from my father and mother who supported South Africa when my dad was in prison.

[00:18:25]Even I quite remember they were selling something for us called puppy when I was in school. They said they are sending the morning here. But now they have totally changed like the Ghanaians we are not human not Ghanaians alone the whole Africa they are not human which is very want to lose my life. I said, "No, let me go back home so that I can die only."

[00:18:56]>> And here's the historical weight that nobody in Ptoria seems to want to reckon with.

[00:19:02]Ghana underwin Kruma was a hub for liberation politics and Panaffrican organizing.

[00:19:09]A cross message now is that South Africa cannot invoke that past abroad while tolerating attacks on African migrants at home.

[00:19:19]That is not just a diplomatic argument.

[00:19:22]That is a moral reckoning.

[00:19:25]And then there's the cycle that nobody wants to talk about. Honestly, this is not new. Right? In 2008, 62 people were were killed in the worst anti-immigrant violence since aparthide ended. The structural drivers were never resolved, leading to recurrent crisis in 2015, 2016, 2019, and now 2026. Every time the same cycle, violence, condemnation, promises of investigation, then it gets quiet and then violence again.

[00:19:57]But something is different this time.

[00:20:00]And what is different is the response from the rest of the continent.

[00:20:06]Countries are not just issuing statements. They're flying planes.

[00:20:10]They're filing AU petitions. They're freezing mining negotiations, naming South African corporations as leverage points.

[00:20:19]Africa is learning to use economic power as diplomatic pressure.

[00:20:25]And that is a new chapter.

[00:20:30]So where does this go from here, right?

[00:20:33]Where does it go from here? Well, a few things are coming fast that we need to be watching, right? June 30th is 5 weeks away. That is the deadline March and March has set. If South Africa does not act decisively, the movement has threatened a national shutdown.

[00:20:52]The government is scrambling. Nobody knows what happens on July 1st.

[00:20:57]And the AU meeting in Cairo is June 24th to the 27th. Ghana's petition will be on the table. For the first time, xenophobia in South Africa will be a formal agenda item at the African Union.

[00:21:12]That's significant. South Africa will have to respond not just to Ghana, but to the continent.

[00:21:19]And then April 2027 is the Taqua lease uh deadline 11 months away. But every single development in this diplomatic standoff between now and then will shape what Ghana decides about that mine.

[00:21:36]You know, the optics of renewing a South African company's license while Ghanaians are still being repatriated from South Africa, trust and believe, would be politically toxic in Ghana. Yeah.

[00:21:50]Gold Fields, they know this. Ramaposa, he may know this. If he doesn't, well, right now he does because gold fields have approached him. And Mahama, yes, he knows it, too.

[00:22:03]And so, here's the question that I want to leave you with, right?

[00:22:07]Is this the moment that Africa starts enforcing reciprocity?

[00:22:11]Not with protests, not with statements, but with the one thing that actually moves the needle in global affairs, economic consequence.

[00:22:19]Because if Ghana walks away from that taqua lease, the message to South Africa and to every country that hosts African migrants while their corporations extract African wealth will be unmistakable.

[00:22:34]You cannot take from Africa and harm Africans at the same time. Not anymore.

[00:22:39]I mean, what are we building? What is our vision? Who are we as a continent when that is happening today in 2026?

[00:22:51]And then a bigger question that we won't dive in on today's episode, but I want to leave with you as food for thought because the logic that Ghana is applying here, right? Use what we have as leverage.

[00:23:03]It doesn't have to stop at South Africa.

[00:23:08]What if African countries applied that same pressure more broadly? What if the continent collectively said, "You want our minerals, build a refinery here first. You want our oil, process it on our soil. You want access to our resources, then invest in our people."

[00:23:27]That logic, resource, access to genuine partnership could fundamentally rewrite Africa's relationship with the rest of the world.

[00:23:37]not with fellow African nations, right, but with the rest of the world. And it starts with moments exactly like this one. And so we will pick that thread up on another episode. But for now, let me hear from you. Do you think Ghana is right to use the gold fields lease as leverage, or does mixing humanitarian econ and economic issues make things more complicated?

[00:24:04]And what do you think the African Union should actually do in Cairo beyond just discussing it? I actually love to hear some thoughts and suggestions from you because we can send them to the AU. You know what? That is a great idea.

[00:24:17]Send me your thoughts in the comments.

[00:24:18]Let me know what you think the AU should do about this and I will compile some of your responses and send it to the African Union. How is that? Yes.

[00:24:28]So, that's what I have for you for now.

[00:24:30]Thank you for tuning in. Subscribe to our channel if you have not already and be sure to tap notification bell so you never miss another breakdown. And a couple of really quick updates and reminders for you. Our homecoming tour to Ghana, yes, Ghana, woo, is coming up in February 2027. I am so pumped, so excited for this trip. that listen given everything that's happening right now I simply cannot think of a better time to go and visit Ghana to see the country ourselves understand what is happening on the ground and connect with the people making decisions so spots are filling up quickly the link is in the description box fill it out the interest form and someone from our team will reach out to you with the next steps and for those of you who have asked me to share real estate investment opportunities in Africa Listen, a company that is doing amazing work that I want to bring to your radar is Cape May Properties. Cape May is one of the leading real estate developers in Ghana right now. And they are currently building what will be the tallest residential building in Acra. Okay. And as I always say on the show, we need to make sure that we have ownership in Africa. So that's a starting point for you. So click on the unique link in the description box. Reach out to them and tell them that Sandra sent you and they would take very very very very good care of you. Okay.

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