President Jacob Zuma must condemn US President Donald Trump's executive order which temporarily bans refugees from seven majority Muslim nations from entering the US, Oxfam SA said on Friday.
It had written to Zuma asking him to publicly condemn Trump's order, the NGO confederation said in a statement.
It asked him to "pledge to increase the number of refugees in South Africa resettlement programme, including those denied a safe haven in the USA".
Thousands of refugees and migrants, including South Africans and Africans, would no longer have the opportunity to rebuild their lives in the US.
The order affected 65.3 million people displaced worldwide, including African countries such as Somalia, Libya, and Sudan, Oxfam said.
Oxfam called on world leaders to insist that Trump rescind his order and increase resettlement numbers in their own countries.
South Africa currently hosts about 1 217 708 refugees and migrants.