Story audio is generated using AI
Pretoria and Accra mutually postponed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to Ghana, according to people familiar with the matter, rejecting reports that the delay was tied to attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa. A planned session of their bilateral commission scheduled for August was pushed back due to South Africa’s interim role as chair of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).South Africa took on the interim Sadc role in November 2025 after Madagascar relinquished the position amid a political crisis. Its term runs through Sadc’s annual summit in August, when a new chair is due to be confirmed and the preparatory work that requires it falls in the same window as the planned Ghana visit. That clash is reportedly why the two countries agreed to postpone the commission.The postponement had separately fuelled reports that Ghana declined to host Ramaphosa in protest over anti-migrant attacks. South Africa has been gripped by protests against illegal immigration, with multiple reports of xenophobic violence emerging countrywide. Ghana has repatriated hundreds of its citizens.The reports of Accra’s cancellation, first published by Ghanaian media outlets, spread across West Africa and were later picked up by international outlets.Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya rejected the claims, saying no state visit to Ghana was planned and that the correspondence between the two countries concerned only the bilateral commission. The commission in question is the South Africa-Ghana binational commission, the main mechanism through which the two countries co-ordinate on political relations, trade and investment. It alternates between the two capitals. South Africa hosted the most recent session in March 2024 during a visit by former Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo. The two sides had agreed then that Ghana would host the next session in 2026.Preparations for that session had been under way for months. The department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) sent a note verbale to Ghana’s high commission in Pretoria on April 15, proposing that Ramaphosa travel to Accra from August 4 to 7 to co-chair the commission with President John Dramani Mahama. Ghana’s mission forwarded the request to Ramaphosa’s office on April 22, and Ghana’s foreign ministry accepted the dates on April 23.Read: Anti-migrant attacks threaten Africa’s integration drives: AfCFTA headOn July 6, South Africa’s department requested that the session be postponed to a date to be mutually agreed through diplomatic channels. Ghana’s ministry of foreign affairs replied the same day, saying that due to state exigencies the session would be rescheduled for a mutually convenient date. Neither note, which Business Day has seen, mentions Sadc, the regional summit, a state visit or xenophobic attacks.The dispute over the postponement surfaced against a backdrop of strained relations between the two countries. Ghana has condemned attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa and called for accountability after the killing of a Ghanaian citizen in Cape Town. South African authorities have said the killing was linked to alleged extortion-related criminality rather than xenophobia.Neither government’s notes specified a new date for the binational commission session. Business Day
