Ethiopia, South Africa Agree On Joint Team After Attacks On Ethiopian Migrants | The Reporter Ethiopia

“Stop using migrants as scapegoats for employment policy failures,” Thabo Mbeki

Ethiopia and South Africa have agreed to deploy a joint follow-up team to investigate recent attacks targeting Ethiopians and other African migrants in South Africa, Ethiopian officials said on Friday.

Nebiat Getachew, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, said the decision followed talks between Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Berhanu Tsegaye and South African Ambassador to Ethiopia Nonceba Losi. Both sides stressed “the need to ensure the safety and protection of Ethiopian citizens,” adding that South Africa had condemned the attacks and confirmed ongoing investigations.

Ethiopia has expressed concern over what it described as a wave of xenophobic violence in parts of South Africa over the past month, which has reportedly affected thousands of migrants and resulted in property losses. Addis Ababa recently summoned the South African Ambassador in connection with the incidents.

The attacks have unfolded against a backdrop of long-standing tensions over immigration in South Africa, where some local groups accuse foreign nationals — including Ethiopians and other Africans — of contributing to unemployment and competing with small businesses.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki this week pushed back against those narratives, saying the country’s economic and social challenges stem from governance failures rather than migration.

Speaking at the NEPAD high-level business breakfast and Africa Day lecture in Cape Town, Mbeki said South Africans were “pointing fingers at the wrong people” while failing to address structural causes of unemployment and crime.

“Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa caused high levels of crime and unemployment, not illegal immigrants,” Mbeki said, recalling earlier periods of economic growth during his presidency. He added that undocumented migrants had been present during years when South Africa’s economy expanded and crime levels declined.

While acknowledging high unemployment and crime rates, Mbeki warned that calls to expel foreign nationals would not resolve the underlying economic problems.

“You are not going to solve the problem of unemployment here by shouting against undocumented Africans and leaving the culprits,” he said. “The culprits are sitting here, but we are pointing fingers at the wrong people.”

Mbeki also reiterated criticism he made in a separate television interview last month, arguing that South Africa’s labor force lacks skills required by the modern economy and describing reliance on social welfare as a sign of policy failure.

“Why do we continue to present this as a significant accomplishment when a substantial portion of the population relies on social welfare?,” he said. “This situation does not represent an achievement; rather, it indicates a systemic failure.”