South African pop star Tyla has used one of the country’s biggest music stages to call for continental solidarity, even as tensions over migration and a wave of anti-immigrant protests continue to grip her homeland.
The 24-year-old, two-time Grammy Award winner made the remarks after receiving the International Achievement prize at the 2026 South African Music Awards on Saturday August, 15.
In her acceptance speech, Tyla said: “I’m just so happy to be South African, to be African most of all and I pray to one day see a united Africa, it’s so important.”
Her words come at a particularly sensitive moment. In recent months, anti-immigration protests and xenophobic attacks by vigilante groups have intensified across South Africa, with foreign nationals increasingly caught in the crossfire.
More than 178,000 African migrants have left the country in recent months through a combination of voluntary repatriation and deportation. Zimbabweans and Malawians account for the largest numbers, with nationals from Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Kenya also among those returning or being repatriated.
The South African government has defended its immigration enforcement efforts while condemning vigilantism and attacks against foreign nationals. The issue has increasingly strained relations between South Africa and other African countries.
Weeks before her remarks, some Nigerian social media users had called for a boycott of Tyla’s scheduled Lagos concert over xenophobic attacks in her homeland. The singer subsequently removed the December 22 date from her “A*Pop” World Tour amid the backlash.
Against that backdrop, her call for African unity carries added weight. A day before Tyla took the stage, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the issue at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) public lecture in Durban.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that many South Africans were “deeply concerned and ashamed” by the treatment of foreign nationals in the country.
Citing the “intimidation” and “harassment” of foreign nationals in South Africa, Ramaphosa said: “We cannot preach integration at summits and practice exclusion in the streets of our countries.”
The remarks came as South Africa hosted the 46th SADC Summit, with regional integration and migration among the issues under discussion.
Social media erupted following Tyla’s acceptance speech, with many across the continent applauding her call for a united Africa, and expressing cautious hope that her celebrity platform might finally amplify calls for change. But some questioned whether words alone could heal wounds deepened by months of hostility and violence.
Tyla’s call for a united Africa comes a few weeks after she was heavily criticised for not speaking against xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
The “Water” hitmaker’s plea comes as migration has become an increasingly contentious political and economic issue in South Africa, where foreign nationals are often targets of public anger fuelled by a complex mix of unemployment, pressure on public services, irregular migration and perceptions of rising crime.
Tyla’s plea and Ramaphosa’s rebuke now sit as twin bookends to a national crisis—the artist speaking from the stage, the president from the political podium. While the singer offered hope, the leader demanded accountability. But whether a pop star’s prayer can soften hearts that political speeches have failed to reach is a question only time will answer.
