Xenophobia in South Africa
Each time the western world tags Africa the Dark Continent, Africans complain. We rail back at the global north for conceiving such devious label. I have found myself, countless times, fuming at the conceited turkey cock-arrogance of the white man; at his self-contrived better than the black man disposition. I cringe at the thought of a human, any human, arrogating superiority halo upon himself in the sense that white is superior to black. I had convinced myself never to yield to such narcissistic and condescending matrix. But each time, I attempt a push back at the white man, my black brothers prove me wrong and prove the white man right.
Some black South Africans are constantly reminding me that there is indeed something inherently wrong with the black man. They remind me that Africa is indeed a Dark continent with all the negative accoutrements of darkness and blackness.
Sure, in the dark anything goes. Dwarfs prance as giants. Nitwits seize the stage while the brightest and the best morph to spectators. In the dark, right becomes wrong and vice versa. Merit bows to mediocre and everything seems just normal. Now, I think of Africa and its components of nationalities as dark patches on earth. Nigeria shows up with its dark blobs upon the earth. Some Nigerians simply think through their bellies. Religion and ethnic bigotry are stronger than research and development. Nigeria funds religion with billions of naira every year, funneling money to finance pilgrimages to Israel, Rome and Saudi Arabia. Nigeria fuels ethnic hate and divisions with state funds. Everything is upside down in this dark patch of the earth; yet all things seem just normal.
But this essay is not about Nigeria. It’s about the xenophobia (some call it Afrophobia) in South Africa and how Nigeria is reacting to it. Just consider the xenophobic attacks and killings of Nigerians in South Africa these past weeks. Xenophobia in South Africa has been recurring like a stubborn decimal. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, no fewer than 11 cases of Xenophobia have been reported. And in all instances, there were fatalities
At the height of that satanic display by South African blacks in 2019, some Nigerians went to social media to say ‘serves us right’. Nigerians in South Africa and other places are criminals, they rant. But what do you expect, even the then President Muhammadu Buhari championed such asinine de-marketing of his countrymen. He called Nigerians names. Corrupt. Criminals. Crooks. And it seemed just normal.
We were told by social media activists that Nigerians afflicted by xenophobia bug in South Africa were from the South East. Some even defended the South African beasts who unleashed their beastly brunt on Nigerians. But now, we know better. Those affected are first and foremost Nigerians. And every part of the country, from North to South, is affected. The ethnic profilers should now create a new job for themselves. They now have their faces draped in shame. Your brother was displaced from South Africa. Your sister lost her shop and goods to Cyril Ramaphosa’s vandals. It’s not only the Igbo-man that was caught in the vicious vortex of the morbid South African mob.
And you just wonder, why are we so quick to walk the path of ethnic bigotry? Why do Nigerians openly display their aversion towards other ethnic nationalities? A nation that easily inclines itself to divisive tendencies only prepares itself for grand failure. When we are blurred by ethnic sentiments, we give room for the enthronement of mediocrity over excellence. Worst of all, we trade hate when we should show love. Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, did not consider the ethnic origins of the stranded Nigerians when he yielded his aircraft to evacuate them in 2019. He did not do it because they were Igbo. He did it for humanity. He did it for public good. And as it has now turned out, he did it for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe and tongue. For this, he remains a hero. And he has shamed ethnic bigots who seized social media space in frenetic convulsion with the dubious narrative that ‘it was because of his Igbo kinsmen’. Silly thinking of bigoted minds.
Now, in 2026, South African blacks are back to their primeval pastime. Another wave of xenophobia directed, as usual, against nationals of other African countries. Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Zambians, et al. This time, they seemed well organised and better empowered by state actors to carry out their agenda of ingratitude. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa appears happy with the dark acts of his black countrymen. South African security apparatchik have also looked away, pretending not to notice the vile and venom being spewed by South African blacks against their fellow Africans.
Worst of it all, is the South Africa media. No rebuke from the traditionally vibrant media. It is a well-programmed culture of silence from the Daily Sun, Sowetan, Mail & Guardian, The Citizen, Isolezwe and others. Not even the feisty digital news platform, News24, has dared to call out enforcers of operation Dudula.
But wait a minute, do they owe any immigrant any explanation? Whereas, it has been argued that Nigeria and other African countries fought on the side of black South Africans against apartheid white regime, that argument ends there. South Africa does not owe any nation gratitude. A pig, no matter how gaily dressed, will still be a pig, a lover of slum and filth. South Africa is developed not because of black South Africans but because the white component of South Africa leadership built that country, turning it to the Europe in Africa.
The solution is this: Let black leaders of black African nations build their respective countries. Just make your home countries livable and citizens-friendly. Lead to develop, not to loot. The ‘unwanted’ white apartheid leaders led and turned South Africa to a continental paradise. Black leaders of Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and others should stop the loot. They should lead to build their nations. That way, no citizen of Nigeria will ever fancy or succumb to the temptation of the good life outside Nigeria. Same for Ghana, and other African nations. Fix your home countries and xenophobia will cease. Very simple.
I hardly need restate it here that South African blacks are lazy, lack drive and are shorn of self-motivation. Now afflicted by their self-contrived poverty, they are jealous of immigrants who have rolled up their sleeves and are thriving in their small businesses and endeavour. South African blacks have told other Africans that they are happy to remain slaves to the white minority in South Africa. Please, let them be. Black immigrants should leave South Africa, return to their respective countries and demand good governance from their leaders.
Bottom line: Africa is still a Dark Continent.
