President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration has issued a stern rebuttal to the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing the international body of spreading misinformation regarding the nature of recent violent incidents in South Africa. The dispute centers on claims made by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who characterized the recent deaths of foreign nationals as a surge of xenophobic violence. In a forceful statement released on Monday, 15 June, the Presidency moved to challenge this narrative, asserting that the global health agency’s depiction of the situation is factually incorrect.
The friction arose following a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) by Dr. Tedros, who expressed his heartbreak over what he described as a wave of attacks targeting migrants. His comments cited the deaths of at least five Ethiopian nationals and five Mozambicans in Mossel Bay, claiming that these incidents were part of a broader trend of xenophobic violence that has led to mass displacement. Dr. Tedros further alleged that thousands of families were being forced to flee for their lives, painting a grim picture of systematic instability within South African borders.
In response, Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya explicitly rejected the WHO’s characterization, arguing that the incidents involving Ethiopian nationals were not driven by xenophobic sentiment. Instead, the Presidency maintained that these tragedies fall squarely within the realm of organized crime. By framing the violence as criminal activity rather than targeted anti-migrant animosity, the government is attempting to reposition the narrative to underscore that the state is dealing with specific law enforcement challenges rather than a breakdown in societal cohesion.
The South African government has committed to a formal diplomatic process to address these discrepancies. Magwenya announced that the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has been tasked with engaging the WHO directly to ensure that “accurate and reliable” information is presented to the international community. This move is seen as an effort to counter the potential damage to South Africa’s international reputation caused by the WHO’s public accusations, specifically by providing the government’s comprehensive version of events.
Regarding the specific investigations, the Presidency noted that law enforcement agencies are actively pursuing the perpetrators behind the recent deaths, including those in Mossel Bay, though few operational details have been released to the public. Magwenya emphasized that President Ramaphosa and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration remain steadfast in their position that only state-sanctioned law enforcement officials have the mandate to police migration and maintain order. The administration highlighted that it does not condone vigilantism or illegal enforcement tactics by private citizens.
Ultimately, while the Presidency expressed its “deepest sympathies” to the grieving families and the affected communities, maintaining that “one life lost is simply one too many,” the message from Pretoria remains clear: the state will not tolerate the framing of its domestic security challenges as purely xenophobic in nature. By challenging the WHO, the South African government is seeking to assert greater control over the country’s international image and dictate how the complexities of its migration governance are portrayed on the world stage.