Four-time Grammy-nominated Malian music legend Salif Keïta pulls out of South Africa festival over “xenophobic violence”

The decision comes as anti-migrant protests intensify in one of Africa’s most industrialised economies, prompting thousands of foreign nationals to return home and increasingly straining cultural ties across the continent.

Explaining his decision, Keïta said he could not “ignore the reports of xenophobic violence against our African brothers and sisters.”

“When I see migrants attacked, I do not see ‘politics’. I see people looking for work, safety, and dignity.”

The 77-year-old musician stressed that his decision was not a rejection of South Africans.

“To be clear — I am not closing the door on South Africa. I am closing the door on violence,” he said.

Often described as the “Golden Voice of Africa”, Keïta has spent more than five decades in music and remains one of the continent’s most recognisable artists.

The award-winning Malian singer has earned four Grammy nominations and won France’s Victoire de la Musique for World Music Album of the Year in 2010 for La Différence.

His ties to South Africa also stretch back decades, including a performance at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988, an event closely linked to the international anti-apartheid movement.

In response to his withdrawal, the Free State’s culture department said it regretted the decision and stressed that Macufe was intended to celebrate African unity.

Keïta’s withdrawal comes against the backdrop of worsening tensions over migration in South Africa, which has long attracted workers from across the continent.

More than 160,000 foreigners have left South Africa through repatriation programmes since May, according to an AFP tally. They include citizens of Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria.

This week, 173 Tanzanian nationals also returned home from Durban, one of the centres of recent anti-migrant demonstrations.

Anti-migrant groups accuse undocumented foreigners of putting pressure on jobs and public services and contributing to crime.

However, South African authorities have maintained that immigration laws must be enforced through legal channels and have acted against people accused of vigilantism and violence.

Increasingly, the tensions are also spilling into Africa’s entertainment industry.

In July, a planned Lagos concert by Grammy-winning South African singer Tyla disappeared from her A*POP World Tour schedule after boycott calls from some Nigerians over reported xenophobic attacks against African migrants in South Africa.

Although Tyla and her management did not publicly confirm that the backlash caused the change, the episode showed how migration tensions were beginning to affect cross-border cultural exchanges.

Keïta’s decision now brings the issue into sharper focus from the opposite direction, with one of West Africa’s most prominent musicians refusing to perform in South Africa over the treatment of fellow Africans.

As a result, the controversy has added a cultural dimension to a migration crisis already affecting labour flows, diplomacy and relations between African countries.