A 40-year-old Ghanaian national has become the latest fatality in South Africa’s escalating xenophobic crisis, prompting Accra to lodge a formal diplomatic protest and demand a swift criminal investigation.
Bashiru Isak was shot dead in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, on Monday during demonstrations tied to the nationwide anti-immigrant campaign that came to a head on June 30 — the deadline set by protest groups for undocumented foreigners to leave the country.
Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement issued Wednesday, called the killing “a senseless act of violence” and pointed to what it described as a rising tide of xenophobia targeting African nationals in South Africa.
Diplomatic response already in motion
The Ghana High Commission in Pretoria has registered a formal protest with South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation and filed a criminal complaint with the South African Police Service.
Isak’s identity has been confirmed, his family notified, and an autopsy has been carried out at Ghana’s request. The Foreign Ministry says it is now arranging repatriation of his body for burial in Ghana.
Accra is pressing for “a full, transparent and expedited investigation” leading to arrests and prosecution, and is calling on South African authorities to step up protection for Ghanaians still in high-risk areas.
The ministry has also renewed a standing petition before the African Union Commission on xenophobic violence against African nationals in South Africa, urging the AU to take it up at its next statutory meeting.
Part of a wider exodus
Isak’s death is the latest confirmed fatality in weeks of unrest that has already claimed lives from several African countries. Reporting from Al Jazeera indicates at least two Mozambicans, an Ethiopian and a Malawian had been killed in anti-immigrant violence in the lead-up to June 30.
The violence has been driven largely by the “March and March” movement, which issued an ultimatum for undocumented migrants to leave the country or face consequences, though the demand carries no legal basis.
The scale of displacement has been substantial. South Africa processed more than 15,000 Malawian nationals for deportation or voluntary repatriation through the Beitbridge border post — the largest single-nationality exodus since the 2008 pogrom, while Mozambique confirmed nine of its nationals had been killed.
Ghana is one of several African governments that responded by flying citizens home rather than waiting for the situation to stabilise — a pattern also seen with Malawi and Zimbabwe, whose nationals have camped outside embassies and consulates seeking evacuation.
A recurring pattern
South Africa has a documented history of cyclical xenophobic violence, including deadly riots in 2008, 2015, 2016 and 2019. Researchers at Wits University’s African Center for Migration and Society have documented over 1,300 Afrophobic incidents, at least 690 deaths, and roughly 128,000 displacements between 1994 and 2026.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly rejected the protest groups’ threats and warned against vigilantism, though critics — including Human Rights Watch — have said the police response to earlier attacks this year was inadequate.
Ghana’s emergency contact lines for citizens remaining in South Africa were reiterated in Wednesday’s statement, alongside advice to avoid high-risk areas and remain vigilant.
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