The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, has called for calm amid rising xenophobic tensions in South Africa and growing calls by some Ghanaians to boycott or shut down South African businesses in Ghana.
According to him, retaliatory actions could escalate tensions across the continent and undermine African unity and peaceful coexistence.
Speaking to Citi News on Thursday, May 28, Most Rev. Gyamfi urged Ghanaians and Africans generally not to respond emotionally by targeting South Africans or their businesses.
“I believe that Ghanaians who have been repatriated, and indeed all Africans, should see this as a misunderstanding by some people in South Africa and should not react by repatriating South Africans back,” he stated.
He warned that such actions could trigger a chain reaction across the continent.
“Once you begin that, it will have a snowball effect all over Africa. We just want everybody to keep calm. Initially, people may want to act emotionally to settle scores, but that is not the proper way to handle these issues,” he added.
The Catholic Bishop stressed the need for peaceful coexistence among African countries, noting that citizens across the continent continue to live and do business in one another’s nations.
“Ghanaians will continue to live in South Africa and South Africans will also continue to live in Ghana. Ghanaians have businesses there and South Africans also have businesses here. Let us live in unity and love,” he appealed.
Most Rev. Gyamfi acknowledged that misunderstandings and isolated incidents may occur but cautioned against allowing them to define relations between African nations.
“There will always be some aberrations. You should not build on the deviations,” he said.
He further described it as unfortunate that Africans continue to divide themselves along colonial boundaries, instead of strengthening unity on the continent.
“It is very sad that Africans continue to build on the divisions created by Europeans instead of breaking away from them. We keep emphasising artificial boundaries and differences,” he lamented.
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