This archive report was first published on 14 September 2019.
On September 14, 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faced a hostile crowd at the funeral of Zimbabwe's former leader Robert Mugabe.
As Ramaphosa began his eulogy at the Harare national stadium, a wave of jeers, boos, and whistles interrupted him, reportedly in response to recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
At least 12 people had been killed in a surge of violence and mob attacks against foreign-owned businesses in and around Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city, in the preceding month.
After one of the organizers attempted to calm the crowd, Ramaphosa apologized for the attacks, saying, "I stand before you as a fellow African to express my regret and apologise for what has happened in our country."
His apology was met with cheers and the sound of horns from the crowd.
South Africa, the continent's second-largest economy, is a major destination for other African migrants, but they often face hostility from locals who blame them for a lack of jobs.
As a result of the violence, hundreds of migrants from Mozambique and Zimbabwe have fled to shelters, and Nigeria's government has flown around 600 of its citizens home from Johannesburg.
