The country’s shame and Africa’s failure

The painful reality of xenophobia in South Africa is starkly illustrated by mobs storming foreign-owned spaza shops, interrogating shopkeepers, and issuing threats. This is not law enforcement but political thuggery, yet the uncomfortable truth is that such xenophobic politics thrives when economies falter.

Operation Dudula, a group whose name means "push back" in Zulu, has built its identity on the claim that foreigners steal jobs and businesses. Their supporters target migrant-owned shops, demanding their closure. While such actions are ugly, dangerous, and unconstitutional, they gain traction in a South Africa grappling with catastrophic youth unemployment, a sense of abandonment by political elites, rampant crime, and collapsing public services due to corruption and incompetence.

In these conditions, politicians and vigilante groups manufacture enemies, with foreigners becoming the easiest targets due to their visibility, vulnerability, and political expendability. The Institute for Security Studies warns that migrants are scapegoated for issues stemming from corruption and governance failures. Despite this, political parties continue to inflame the situation, as xenophobia mobilizes anger more effectively than policy solutions.

This situation demands an honest conversation not just within South Africa but across the continent. African governments, including Malawi and Zimbabwe, are criticized for condemning attacks abroad while ignoring the structural failures pushing their own citizens to leave. The article argues that for Africa to have a meaningful conversation about xenophobia, honesty must extend in all directions, addressing the root causes of migration and economic instability that fuel such hostility.