IMANI Africa Vice President Kofi Bentil has urged South African companies operating in Ghana to do more for African migrants targeted in South Africa’s xenophobic attacks.
In a social media post, Bentil said firms such as MTN, Gold Fields and Stanbic Bank had earned billions from African markets over decades but had failed to respond adequately to the violence. “They have shown an appalling lack of sensitivity and aloofness,” he said, calling it close to disrespect.
Bentil has become a leading voice in the campaign against renewing Gold Fields’ Tarkwa mining lease, part of wider calls, backed by figures including Eric Adjei of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), to boycott or pressure South African businesses in Ghana.
He stopped short of urging a full withdrawal, warning of costs to both economies. Gold Fields and other South African firms are among Ghana’s largest taxpayers, he noted, so a rupture would bring losses on both sides.
Instead, Bentil urged companies to show stronger commitment to host countries. They could set up emergency funds for affected migrants, finance legal action against perpetrators, support repatriation, raise local ownership and procurement, and list more shares locally, he said. For Gold Fields, he proposed selling a share of its gold output to Ghana’s gold board, GoldBod. Spending even 10 million dollars jointly, he argued, would be a drop in the bucket against their profits.
The debate comes as Ghana prepares a second evacuation wave. High Commissioner Benjamin Quashie said about 610 more nationals had registered to leave South Africa and were being screened, with two chartered aircraft secured, after the first batch of around 300 returned on 27 May.
Quashie said many seeking to return are small-scale business owners, hairdressers, mechanics and traders, weary of losing everything in recurring attacks. The government is funding the exercise as part of broader efforts to protect citizens abroad.
