Keypoints:
- Keïta cancels commercial South Africa performances
- MACUFE booking was scheduled for September 12
- Singer invokes Mandela-era African solidarity
MALIAN music legend Salif Keïta has cancelled his upcoming commercial performances in South Africa, saying he could not ignore reports of xenophobic violence against fellow Africans as anti-migrant tensions continue to strain the country’s relations across the continent.
The decision carries significance beyond entertainment. Keïta, one of Africa’s most internationally recognised musicians, has framed his withdrawal as an act of solidarity with African migrants and linked it to the history of continental support for South Africa during the struggle against apartheid.
Keïta puts solidarity before stage
Keïta announced what he described as a painful decision in a statement published on Facebook on Tuesday, August 25.
He said reports of attacks on African migrants made it impossible for him to proceed with commercial performances in South Africa. His manager, Carolina Vallejo of One World Records, separately confirmed the decision to AFP on Wednesday.
‘To be clear — I am not closing the door on South Africa. I am closing the door on violence,’ Keïta said.
The singer stressed that his action was not directed against South Africans as a people. Instead, he portrayed the cancellation as opposition to violence and hostility towards Africans seeking work, security and opportunity in the country.
Primary-source tour listings also point to a specific performance affected by the decision.
Keïta’s management company, One World Music, lists him as scheduled to perform at the Mangaung African Cultural Festival, or MACUFE, in Bloemfontein on September 12.
The official MACUFE website, hosted by the Free State Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, also names Salif Keïta as a performer at its 2026 main festival. The festival is scheduled to run from September 3 to 13.
However, Keïta’s own official website now lists the September 12 date only as ‘To be confirmed’.
The differing listings suggest organisers and Keïta’s team had not yet fully synchronised their public schedules following his announcement.
Mandela legacy shapes his protest
Keïta’s criticism is particularly resonant because he has framed the dispute through South Africa’s liberation history.
In his statement, the veteran singer recalled a South Africa associated with Nelson Mandela and with the solidarity African countries extended during apartheid. His argument is that hostility towards African migrants sits uneasily with that history.
The intervention comes as South Africa faces growing continental scrutiny over anti-migrant mobilisation, violence and the role of citizen groups seeking to enforce immigration rules themselves.
Ghana has already pushed for the issue to receive greater attention within the African Union, describing repeated xenophobic incidents as a matter of continental concern.
The controversy has also prompted wider debate over whether South Africa’s increasingly fraught migration politics are damaging the Pan-African standing it built after apartheid.
Pretoria rejects xenophobia
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has repeatedly drawn a distinction between enforcing immigration laws and allowing vigilantism against foreign nationals.
In a national address on migration in June, Ramaphosa said only authorised state officials could enforce immigration law and that private individuals had no authority to stop people and demand proof of nationality.
He also said there was no place in South Africa for xenophobia, Afrophobia or other forms of intolerance, while acknowledging public concerns over undocumented migration and pressure on public services.
The government’s inter-ministerial committee on migration later said violence and intimidation against foreign nationals were unlawful and would be prosecuted. By June 21, authorities had registered 89 incidents relating to public order and incitement as criminal cases.
Ramaphosa returned to the controversy in Parliament this week, insisting South Africa remained a respected Pan-African actor while acknowledging that some African governments had raised concerns over anti-migrant actions by groups inside the country.
Migrant numbers need context
The scale of departures from South Africa has become another measure of the disruption, although available tallies differ according to timing and methodology.
More than 160,000 people had left South Africa since late May, based on figures released by African governments involved in repatriations.
An Associated Press (AP) calculation published earlier in August put the number above 178,000 African migrants, drawing on figures from migrants’ home governments. AP said most departures were voluntary or assisted returns, while about 19,000 people had been deported.
The figures should therefore not be treated as contradictory measures of exactly the same population and period, but as separate tallies compiled at different times from government data.
The movement has coincided with anti-migrant protests and increasing diplomatic pressure. Ghana postponed planned bilateral meetings with South Africa in July amid concern that violence against migrants could overshadow relations between the two countries.
Two Ghanaian nationals have also petitioned the International Criminal Court seeking a preliminary investigation into alleged xenophobic violence. The filing is a private initiative and does not mean the ICC has opened an investigation or accepted the petitioners’ allegations.
Culture becomes another pressure point
Keïta’s withdrawal introduces cultural pressure into a dispute already affecting diplomacy, migration and regional politics.
South Africa remains one of Africa’s most important destinations for touring musicians, festivals and other creative industries. A decision by an artist of Keïta’s continental stature to withdraw from commercial appearances therefore carries symbolism beyond the loss of a single festival performance.
It also reflects a wider argument over whether African cultural integration can continue to deepen while political tensions around migration pull countries in the opposite direction.
Keïta has stopped short of declaring a permanent boycott. His statement instead leaves open the possibility of future engagement with South Africa while drawing a clear distinction between relations with South Africans and his objection to violence against migrants.
For MACUFE, the immediate question is whether organisers will formally confirm his withdrawal and adjust the September programme.
For South Africa, Keïta’s intervention adds a prominent cultural voice to a much larger continental debate: how the country can enforce immigration laws without allowing anti-migrant mobilisation to erode the African solidarity that helped sustain its own liberation struggle.
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