Skukuza – South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola has told his regional counterparts that attacks against foreign nationals are unlawful and will not be tolerated, as migration dominates talks at the SADC Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Kruger National Park.
Lamola made the remarks on Saturday, 23 May 2026, on the sidelines of the retreat at Skukuza, where several Southern African Development Community foreign ministers raised concerns about the safety of their citizens in South Africa following recent demonstrations linked to illegal migration and growing frustration around undocumented foreign nationals.
“I am engaging with my counterparts. I also know that my counterpart from Ghana was also here. Still, some of the SADC foreign ministers have raised the issue with me, particularly Malawi, who were affected mostly by their citizens,” Lamola said. 
He was firm that the South African government would not condone any violence directed at foreign nationals.
“We continued to assure them that as a South African government, we will condemn any form of attack against foreign nationals. It is in terms of our law, only the police can enforce the law,” he said.
Lamola acknowledged that South Africa faced serious challenges around irregular migration but stressed that only authorised law enforcement agencies were mandated to deal with it.
“We do have a challenge of illegal migration, illegal documented or undocumented foreign nationals in the country that we need to address, and we need as a government to build capability to respond to that, to be able to know who is in the country, what they are doing, where they are, and also when they’ve committed a crime. They must be arrested, whether it’s a foreign national or is a South African,” he said.
The Minister said migration was one of the key thematic areas at the retreat, particularly as SADC pushed for deeper regional integration and economic cooperation.
“One of the thematic areas is migration, because regional integration will not happen if there is no ease of movement of people and no ease of movement of goods,” he said.
Lamola also acknowledged the historical debt South Africa owed to the African continent for its support during the liberation struggle, while making clear that this could not be used to justify lawlessness.
“We also understand, as South Africa, that the continent has a claim in us, in terms of them having supported us to fight against apartheid, to fight for freedom, but it does not mean that there must be lawlessness in our country. There must be order. There must be respect for the rule of law, and that should be enforced by the police,” Lamola said.
