By Nana Karikari, Senior Global Affairs Correspondent
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has launched a fierce defense of African migrants. He warned that rising hostility toward foreign nationals rests on a false narrative. This narrative, he argued, obscures the structural roots of South Africa’s economic crises.
Speaking at a joint business breakfast hosted by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and AUDA-NEPAD, the former statesman argued that undocumented African migrants are unfairly blamed for systemic crises. His remarks follow a volatile week where nearly 300 Ghanaian citizens voluntarily returned home from South Africa due to safety concerns and widespread anti-immigrant protests. The voluntary repatriation highlights growing panic within expatriate communities living across South African townships.
Misdirected Frustrations Over Crime and Jobs
The former president acknowledged that public anxiety regarding social stability and employment is grounded in harsh daily realities. South Africa currently battles one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, alongside severe violent crime statistics. However, Mbeki insisted that the public anger fueling recent xenophobic demonstrations is targeting the wrong population.
“We’ve got many problems here. The problem legitimately led to high levels of unemployment; that’s correct. High levels of crime, that’s correct. But the finger is being pointed at the wrong people,” Mbeki said.
He explicitly rejected the popular political rhetoric that ties the lack of job opportunities directly to the presence of undocumented neighbors.
“The levels of high unemployment in this country are not due. They are not due to undocumented Africans. They are not,” he stressed.
The Structural Roots of Economic Decline
Mbeki contextualized the current crisis by tracing South Africa’s economic trajectory over the last three decades. He pointed out that the nation’s severe fiscal downturn was set in motion long before immigration emerged as a central political talking point.
“We know the history in detail of how South Africa, from 1994 to 2002, 2008, 2009, can’t go up like this. Growth rates reach 6% from 2009 onward, going in the opposite direction. It isn’t caused by undocumented immigrants,” Mbeki explained.
By focusing public anger on marginalized migrant communities, Mbeki argued, South Africans are allowing the true architects of the country’s economic stagnation to evade public accountability.
“The people who cause that will look at it, that decline, they are laughing in a corner there, because we’re pointing not at them, but we’re pointing somewhere else is wrong,” he said.
The Inevitability of Continental Migration
Rather than treating immigration as a variable that can be eliminated through political posturing or border enforcement, Mbeki described continental migration as a permanent reality. He emphasized that regional economic integration and human movement will persist despite domestic political pressures.
“So, one prediction I will make is that the Africans will continue to come to South Africa. It doesn’t matter what you do,” he said.
Mbeki added that this migration is often driven by a deeply ingrained perception of South Africa across the continent. He noted it reflects “a particular frame of mind with regard to South Africa, which they helped to liberate.”
Confronting the Real Culprits of Stagnation
The address called for a fundamental shift in how South Africa manages its domestic challenges. Mbeki warned that scapegoating foreigners serves as a dangerous distraction that leaves the country’s core economic issues untouched.
“You are not going to solve the problem of unemployment here by shouting against undocumented Africans and leaving the culprit,” he said. “The culprits are sitting here. I can even tell you their names, but we’re pointing fingers at the wrong people.”
He urged the public to abandon politically convenient narratives and confront the domestic policy failures and corruption that hamper growth.
“What are we doing to say to the South Africans, the positions you are taking on this and that are wrong? Here is the truth: you are busy chasing after ghosts, and you are leaving this devil,” Mbeki stated.
A Reminder of Shared Liberation History
Mbeki concluded his speech by appealing to the historical memory of the anti-apartheid struggle. He reminded the audience that South Africa’s freedom was achieved with the significant diplomatic, financial, and moral backing of fellow African nations.
He argued that turning against continental neighbors violates the foundational solidarity of the liberation era.
“People are beating drums about the wrong people and failing to understand an organic connection between these Africans on the continent and these Africans here, because we’ve together in the same struggle, you can’t certainly turn against them,” Mbeki said.
Balancing the Migration Debate
While Mbeki blames domestic policy failures, grassroots organizers and local community leaders frequently voice contrasting perspectives. Critics argue that unmanaged immigration places unsustainable strain on overextended municipal infrastructure, public clinics, and local labor markets. These groups maintain that stricter border regulation is a matter of sovereign rule of law, rather than xenophobia. This deep friction between pan-African ideals and domestic resource constraints remains one of South Africa’s most polarizing political fault lines.
Accra and Pretoria Manage Diplomatic Fallout
The arrival of nearly 300 Ghanaian returnees at Kotoka International Airport in Accra has pushed the issue to the top of West Africa’s diplomatic agenda. Ghanaian officials confirmed they issued emergency travel certificates to the group, which included women and children fleeing localized harassment. At the tarmac, returnees were met by mental health professionals providing psychological support for displacement trauma. More than 800 total Ghanaians in South Africa have registered for evacuation ahead of a looming June 30 ultimatum issued by South African anti-immigration groups threatening a nationwide shutdown.
Ghanaian authorities have actively sought to ease tensions while preserving critical bilateral and economic ties. Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, urged cooperation over friction. Quashie noted that institutional compliance
must be respected, pointing out that both nations are working to ensure undocumented individuals return home safely without sparking a diplomatic rift. Simultaneously, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola explicitly condemned xenophobic actions, stating that domestic grievances cannot justify violence or unlawful deportations. Despite these assurances, the political fallout has triggered wider debates across the African Union regarding pan-African labor mobility and the protection of expatriate workers.
Travel Advisories Trigger Diplomatic Friction
The safety anxieties felt by foreign nationals have translated into formal state warnings. Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously issued travel advisories warning its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to specific South African flashpoints. The advisory explicitly cautioned travelers to steer clear of crowded areas and township protests prone to sudden outbreaks of violence.
While Pretoria criticized the advisory as an overreaction that unnecessarily harms regional tourism, Accra defended the measure as a non-negotiable step to protect its diaspora. The friction underscores how domestic socioeconomic frustrations inside South Africa are directly disrupting international trade, tourism, and free movement across the continent.
Regional Backlash and the Continental Response
The escalation of anti-immigrant sentiment has triggered sharp pushback from other African capitals and regional bodies. Commentators and governments across Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe have issued parallel warnings to their citizens to exercise extreme caution. Voices across the continent are increasingly reminding Pretoria of collective historical sacrifices. They note that West, East, and Southern African nations opened their doors, funded liberation movements, and harbored political exiles during the long fight against apartheid.
The African Union (AU) faces mounting institutional pressure to intervene directly. The Ghanaian government has formally petitioned the AU to place the issue of xenophobia in South Africa on the official agenda for its upcoming June session. The petition also requests a fact-finding mission to investigate the root causes of the persistent violence. This development highlights an unresolved structural contradiction for the AU: balancing the sovereign rights of member states to police their borders against the legal and moral obligation to preserve Pan-African safety and labor mobility.
A Fragmented Continental Ideal
The brewing crisis exposes a profound dilemma at the heart of modern Africa. The dream of an integrated continent—built on the shared history of anti-colonial solidarity and open borders—is colliding directly with the modern realities of domestic economic distress. While high-level figures like Thabo Mbeki champion the moral debt owed to neighboring countries, local policymakers face fierce political pressure to prioritize their own citizens within scarce job markets. How South Africa navigates this divide will define its standing as a continental leader. Ultimately, the true challenge lies in transforming migration from a political lightning rod into a structured, mutually beneficial reality for a deeply interconnected continent.
