WCC Statement on the situation in South Africa

WCC Statement on the situation in South Africa

msc

Mon, 07/13/2026 - 17:37

The World Council of Churches (WCC) expresses grave concern about the developments of violence in South Africa, which targeted migrants from other African countries, in what many have called cases of xenophobia or Afrophobia, including the regrettable loss of life and destruction of property and livelihoods.

The WCC recognizes that the violence experienced by African migrants in South Africa is instigated and perpetrated by a minority of South Africans, who are misdirecting their anger and frustration or are hijacking and misdirecting legitimate public frustrations by the majority of ordinary South Africans.

The WCC refuses to erase the diverse people of South Africa by erasing their good deeds and radical hospitality toward siblings from across the continent.

The WCC acknowledges and laments the fact that South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. Yet the sources of this suffering are too often obscured. Through intentional and rigorous processes of moral discernment, we in the WCC name the situation in South Africa as one of the continuing legacies of…