Old Ramaphosa speech on Covid-19 travel bans falsely linked to South Africa’s anti-migrant unrest

But this is false; the video is from a 2021 speech Ramaphosa made about Covid-19 restrictions. Claims that certain countries imposed travel bans on South Africans over the recent unrest are also false.

“Forgive us, don’t ban us” and “South Africa begs for a ban lift resulting from xenophobic claims,” reads the text overlaid on a TikTok video published on July 19, 2026.

Shared more than 3,000 times, the 28-second video has been shows Ramaphosa speaking into the camera.

But the video of Ramaphosa is unrelated to these issues and was filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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