Overview
- Two Ghanaian nationals, Palgrave Boakye‑Danquah and Emmanuel Kotin, submitted a communication to the ICC prosecutor on July 15 asking the court to open a preliminary examination.
- The petition says a pattern of widespread and systematic attacks between 2015 and 2026 included killings, assaults, looting and forced displacement and accuses South African authorities of failing to prevent or punish those crimes.
- South Africa has dismissed the filing as opportunistic and says its domestic laws, including the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act, provide avenues to prosecute offenders.
- Ghana, ECOWAS and AU officials have called for the issue to be placed on the African Union agenda as more than 160,000 foreign nationals have left South Africa and governments have organised large repatriations and humanitarian aid.
- The ICC has confirmed receipt of the communication but the prosecutor must first assess whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed and only a small fraction of such submissions advance to formal investigations.