Verified reporting, press coverage, and broadcast interviews from leading continental and international outlets covering the 2026 Africa and African Diaspora Conference.
Explore news articles, broadcast features, and analytical commentary on reparations, regional migration, mineral sovereignty, and spiritual renewal.
Delegates from across Africa and the global diaspora convene in Ekurhuleni to spotlight structural economic reparations, intellectual decolonisation, and restitution for centuries of systemic extraction.
Conference Organizing Chair
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola urges law enforcement agencies across the continent to protect migrants and uphold human dignity, warning against xenophobia and anti-migrant sentiment.
Minister of International Relations & Cooperation
South Africa hosts the historic Africa and African Diaspora Conference 2026 in Ekurhuleni under the banner “The Return to Africa”, uniting heads of state, diaspora envoys, and civil society leaders.
Leaders, theologians, and grassroots delegates from the Caribbean, North America, Europe, and the continent gather to forge transformative covenants of unity, spiritual restoration, and collective self-determination.
General Secretary, World Council of Churches
DIRCO Minister Ronald Lamola cautions international powers against an exploitative neo-colonial rush for Africa’s critical energy transition minerals, insisting on local beneficiation and African resource sovereignty.
Minister of International Relations & Cooperation
Former President Thabo Mbeki delivers a wide-ranging keynote at AAD 2026, urging African and diaspora policymakers to develop autonomous diplomatic perspectives in response to volatile global electoral shifts.
Former President of South Africa
Business leader and activist Sipho Pityana condemns afrophobic violence and populist border policies, calling for seamless intra-African trade, free movement of people, and unified diaspora citizenship frameworks.
WCC General Secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay addresses plenaries in Ekurhuleni, emphasizing the prophetic calling of the global church to combat racism, ecological degradation, and systemic exclusion.
General Secretary, World Council of Churches
Commencing with the PAWEEN Women’s Pre-Conference, delegates inaugurate a week of plenary deliberations aimed at cementing cultural repatriation, educational reform, and youth empowerment.
WCC President from North America / PAWEEN Co-Convenor
Minister Ronald Lamola advocates structured intergovernmental dialogue between SADC states and the African Union to harmonize labor migration policies, legal pathways, and regional integration.
Minister of International Relations & Cooperation
Speaking to Pan-African broadcasters, DIRCO leadership reinforces that regional security and continental prosperity depend on upholding constitutional safeguards and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Minister of International Relations & Cooperation
Veteran anti-apartheid leader Rev. Frank Chikane delivers a sobering assessment of South Africa’s constitutional journey, urging civil society and diaspora leaders to defend democratic institutions against oligarchic retreat.
Conference Organizing Chair
A conference convened to unite Africa with its scattered children opened this week in a country where African migrants are being attacked in the streets. That is the contradiction hanging over the second Africa and African Diaspora Conference, and the two men at its centre this week, former president Thabo Mbeki and International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola.
Keynote Leadership & Diplomacy
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