Xenophobia in Africa: Why South Africans Are Getting It Wrong
By Abbati Bako,psc,bsis: Strategy and Communications Consultant IPRC Nigeria and alumnus of Kent UK’s European University and department of international politics and international relations (IR) abbatibako@gmail.com
In space, no one can hear you scream. But on Earth, Africa is screaming at itself and why?
1. The Paradox in Orbit
South Africa is the crown jewel of the continent. Stunning landscapes, world-class infrastructure, and the only African member of the G20. With 60 million people, it’s just 1/4 of Nigeria’s 230 million population, yet it has the bigger, more diversified economy. This is senseless and ungrateful.
But there’s a glitch in the system:
The same nation that was the last to gain independence in the early 1990s after 300+ years of colonization is now the one most in the news for attacking fellow Africans.
That’s like the last astronaut to be rescued from a burning ship turning around to lock the airlock on those who threw him the rope.
Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and others paid school fees, gave passports to ANC leaders, sent soldiers, and cut trade with apartheid. My country Nigeria spent billions of dollars and political capital so South Africa could be free. So why is the rescue team now being treated as the enemy? Are not in an era of communications and globalization policy?
2. Why The Airlock Is Closing here is 3 Core Reasons
1. The Scarcity Glitch:
Unemployment in South Africa hovers around 30%+. Electricity cuts, housing shortages, crime. When people are hungry, they look for a target. Instead of asking leaders “Where are the jobs?”, the anger is redirected to the Somali spaza shop owner, the Nigerian trader, the Zimbabwean builder. It’s not a policy. It’s a pain looking for a face.
2. Historical Amnesia:
A whole generation was born after 1994. They didn’t queue for hours to vote. They didn’t see Nelson Mandela land in Lagos to say “thank you.” Without that memory, “pan-Africanism” sounds like poetry, not policy.
When you forget who carried you, you start kicking the ladder.
3. Misreading Great Power:
Great economies attract people. That’s physics. The US has Mexicans. Germany has Turks. The UAE has everyone. South Africa is Africa’s gateway. More people will come.
A true G20 leader doesn’t burn migrants. A true leader builds systems: legal migration, business registration, skills exchange. In this point research indicates that there’s about or more than130 South African companies in Nigeria getting trillions of Naira as profits annually. Hence and sincerely, Nigeria is still the mother and giant of Africa with a GDP of about $450B and South Africa and Egypt follows.
3. The Cost of Drifting Apart
This isn’t just about feelings. It’s about survival.
Economic Cost: Foreign Africans run over 10,000 businesses in SA townships. They pay rent, VAT, and employ locals. Every shop burned is a job lost.
Diplomatic Cost: Nigeria has evacuated citizens twice. The AU has condemned the violence. You cannot lead Africa while fighting Africa. This is completely wrong.
Moral Cost: Ubuntu “I am because we are” is South Africa’s gift to the world. Xenophobia erases that gift.
4. The Correction: Re-Entry Plan:
If South Africa wants to lead this continent into the future, here’s the flight path:
1. Remember the Launchpad:
Put Africa’s role in the anti-apartheid struggle in textbooks. Celebrate Nigeria Day in Joburg. Gratitude must be government policy.
2. Fix the Engine, Not the Passengers:
Service delivery, corruption, and inequality are the real enemies. Politicians must stop using foreigners as a distraction.
3. Regulate With Law, Not Fire:
Enforce immigration and business laws fairly. But through courts and police, not mobs and torches.
4. Build Interstellar Trade Routes:
Make it easier for a Ghanaian fintech to open in Cape Town. Make it easier for a South African retailer to expand to Abuja. One African market = one African future.
5. Final Transmission
Mallam, South Africa is beautiful. Its potential is interstellar. But potential without unity is just potential wasted.
We didn’t fight colonization for 300 years just to colonize each other with hate.
We didn’t bleed together in the 80s just to bleed each other in the 2020s.
The real enemy is not the Nigerian in Durban. The real enemy is poverty, corruption, and a world that still bets against Africa.
We rose together in the 1990s.
We either rise together now…
Or we all fall alone.
Abbatibako@gmail.com
