President Cyril Ramaphosa has revealed plans to deploy envoys across Africa and beyond to engage governments on migration after raising the issue directly with Kenyan President William Ruto during a state visit.
The visit highlighted the tension increasingly shaping South Africa’s relations with the continent.
The disclosure came during a visit intended to showcase closer economic ties between two of Africa’s most influential economies.
“We also addressed the issue of migration facing South Africa, which is not unique to us but an issue faced by many countries,” Ramaphosa said after bilateral talks at the Union Buildings.
“I expressed to President Ruto that South Africans are not xenophobic.”
Pressed later on whether Pretoria was considering a more formal diplomatic intervention, Ramaphosa revealed that South Africa would engage governments across the continent on migration.
“There will be envoys going to African countries and around the world to address this migration issue we are facing.”
The comments amounted to a rare public acknowledgement that migration has become a diplomatic issue as well as a domestic one.
For years, South Africa has positioned itself as a champion of African integration, freer movement and continental cooperation.
Yet concerns about illegal migration, recurring outbreaks of anti-foreigner sentiment and growing unease among some African governments have exposed a widening gap between the ideals of integration and political realities.
Throughout the day, Ramaphosa and Ruto championed deeper economic integration, easier movement of people, stronger regional value chains and greater cooperation under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Yet migration repeatedly surfaced during discussions and questions from journalists.
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola sought to draw a distinction between illegal migration and xenophobia.
“South Africans are welcoming and peace-loving people who want to work with everyone on the continent,” Lamola said.
“The challenge we are dealing with is illegal migration.”
The prominence of the issue was striking because the visit itself was designed to elevate relations between South Africa and Kenya into a more strategic partnership.
The two presidents witnessed the signing of six memoranda of understanding covering trade facilitation, maritime cooperation, technical and vocational education, gender equality, arts and culture, and sport. But neither leader devoted much time to the agreements themselves.
Instead, they focused on trade, investment, industrialisation and the barriers that continue to fragment African markets.
The emphasis reflected the growing strategic importance of a relationship that increasingly links Africa’s most industrialised economy with one of its most dynamic commercial hubs.
Kenya is South Africa’s largest trading partner in East Africa and one of the continent’s most important destinations for South African investment.
South African banks, retailers, telecommunications companies and financial institutions have expanded steadily into the Kenyan market, while Nairobi increasingly serves as a gateway to East Africa.
The relationship is becoming more important at a time when both countries are searching for new sources of growth in a volatile global economy and attempting to position themselves at the centre of Africa’s integration agenda.
Yet both governments acknowledged that significant obstacles remain.
Ramaphosa repeatedly referred to the need for a “more balanced and mutually beneficial economic partnership” built on investment, industrial cooperation, technology transfer and manufacturing.
Ruto was more direct.
“We acknowledge that real obstacles still remain, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, limited market access and regulatory constraints,” he said. We therefore directed our trade ministers to dismantle these barriers.”
It was one of the most consequential statements of the day.
For all the rhetoric surrounding AfCFTA, both presidents effectively acknowledged that closer economic integration remains incomplete.
Tariff barriers remain in place. Regulatory hurdles persist. Market access remains uneven.
The challenge facing both governments is no longer persuading Africans that integration is desirable. It is making it work.
Trade between the two countries is growing. Ruto said bilateral trade increased from $590 million in 2024 to $650 million in 2025.
“This momentum must not only be sustained but must also be accelerated,” he said.
Both leaders repeatedly described their countries as complementary rather than competing economies.
Ramaphosa characterised Kenya as a gateway to East Africa. Ruto spoke of the “natural complementarity” between the two economies.
The issue of mobility resurfaced repeatedly during the briefing.
While migration emerged as a source of political tension, both governments argued that the movement of people remains essential to economic growth.
Ruto strongly defended the visa-free regime introduced between the two countries, saying it had boosted tourism, trade and cultural exchange.
According to the Kenyan president, 58 000 arrivals from Kenya were recorded in 2025 and Kenyan tourism to South Africa has increased by almost 19% since visa requirements were relaxed.
“This stands as compelling evidence that when managed effectively, the movement of people across borders can create shared prosperity, strengthen ties between nations
and deliver tangible benefits for all,” he said.
The same movement of people celebrated by governments as a driver of trade and growth is increasingly contested in domestic politics.
As Ramaphosa and Ruto promoted freer movement, stronger regional cooperation and deeper economic integration, the South African president found himself assuring his Kenyan counterpart that South Africans are not xenophobic.
Migration was not the only issue that dominated the briefing.
Both leaders repeatedly returned to Africa’s place in a changing global order.
Ruto framed the relationship within the context of a shifting international landscape.
“We met at a moment where the world order is shifting, when what was once certain is now in doubt, when multilateral institutions are being questioned and when Africa’s role in shaping global outcomes has never been more consequential or more contested,” he said.
“We are not asking to be admitted to someone else’s architecture. We are asserting our rightful place among the architects of the new global order.”
The Kenyan president pointed to Africa’s admission to the G20 as evidence that the continent’s influence was growing and praised South Africa’s leadership of the grouping.
He said he would carry the same message to the G7 next month.
“I will be picking up from where President Ramaphosa left at the G20 and taking the same message, the same priorities and our perspectives to the G7.”
Questions about whether South Africa and Kenya occupy different geopolitical camps were firmly dismissed. “That’s just not true,” Ramaphosa said.
Instead, both leaders presented themselves as advocates for African interests in global institutions.
“When President Ruto goes to the G7 in France, he will be articulating the interests of Africa,” Ramaphosa said. The South African president was at his most animated when describing that role.
“We have chosen not to be spectators. And we’ve also chosen not to be quiet. So we are noisy Africans, and we will always be noisy, very, very noisy on African issues on the
global stage.”
Ruto extended the argument into economics. One of the most substantive interventions of the day centred on financing Africa’s development with African capital.
He argued that pension funds, insurance companies, banks and development finance institutions should play a far greater role in financing infrastructure projects across the continent.
Rather than waiting for external actors, African countries should increasingly mobilise their own resources to build energy systems, transport corridors and industrial capacity.
“We are not only looking at what we can do with others,” he said.
“We are also looking at what we can do ourselves.”
The same approach surfaced during an exchange on Ebola preparedness.
Defending Kenya’s decision to establish isolation facilities amid concerns about outbreaks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruto argued that preparedness was a responsibility rather than an option.
Ramaphosa responded by announcing that South Africa had contributed $5 million to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen continental efforts against Ebola.
Trade, migration, infrastructure and health security dominated the discussions between the two presidents.
The six agreements signed on Thursday provide a framework for closer cooperation. The harder task will be translating that cooperation into measurable outcomes.
Both leaders spoke of freer movement, deeper integration and stronger African institutions.
Yet the discussions also reflected the pressures confronting governments across the continent — migration, economic insecurity, public health threats and a volatile international environment.
Those challenges are unlikely to be resolved by a state visit. But they are likely to shape the South Africa-Kenya relationship long after the signing ceremonies have ended.
Kenyan President William Ruto’s state visit highlights the tension shaping South Africa’s relations with the continent, along with other barriers to interregional trade
