For decades, Africa has spoken passionately about unity. From the formation of the African Union to the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the continent has consistently projected a vision of integration, cooperation, and shared prosperity. Leaders have championed the idea of “One Africa,” where borders become bridges rather than barriers.
Yet, recurring waves of xenophobic attacks across parts of the continent, particularly in South Africa, continue to expose a painful contradiction at the heart of Africa’s unity agenda.
Recent tensions involving foreign nationals from Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and other African states have reignited concerns about growing anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa. Governments including Ghana and Nigeria have issued warnings to their citizens, while some began evacuation processes following reports of harassment, intimidation, and violence targeting African migrants.
At the center of the latest unrest are frustrations over unemployment, economic inequality, pressure on public services, and illegal immigration. South Africa continues to grapple with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, with many citizens expressing anger over worsening living conditions. Foreign nationals are often accused; fairly or unfairly; of taking jobs, straining healthcare systems, and contributing to crime.
But while these socio-economic frustrations are real, the targeting of fellow Africans reveals a deeper crisis; one that threatens the moral and political foundation of Pan-Africanism itself.
The dream of a united Africa cannot coexist with fear, hostility, and violence against Africans simply because they come from another African country.
Across social media, disturbing videos circulated in recent weeks allegedly showing foreign nationals being confronted and told to “go back and fix your country.” Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, formally protested the incidents and summoned South Africa’s envoy over the attacks.
South African authorities have since condemned the violence, promising firm action against perpetrators. Officials have repeatedly stressed that criminality and xenophobia cannot be tolerated in a constitutional democracy.
Yet for many Africans watching across the continent, the damage goes beyond physical attacks. It is psychological. Emotional. Symbolic.
It sends a troubling message that African solidarity may still be conditional.
This is particularly significant given South Africa’s own liberation history. During apartheid, many African nations offered refuge, diplomatic backing, financial support, and political solidarity to South African freedom fighters. Countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, and others stood firmly behind the anti-apartheid movement.
Today, many Africans question how a continent that once united against racial oppression can now witness Africans turning against one another.
The issue also raises difficult questions about the future of continental integration.
How can Africa successfully implement free movement protocols under AfCFTA if Africans fear hostility in fellow African states? How can the continent build cross-border businesses, educational exchanges, labour mobility, and regional tourism if xenophobia continues to rise?
True integration is not built only through policy documents and high-level summits. It is built through trust between ordinary people.
Without social cohesion, Africa’s economic integration risks becoming politically ambitious but socially fragile.
Experts have long warned that xenophobia in South Africa is tied to structural inequality, unemployment, weak governance, and political scapegoating. Historical outbreaks in 2008, 2015, and 2019 claimed lives and displaced thousands.
The latest developments suggest that unless these underlying tensions are addressed, cycles of violence may continue to repeat themselves.
At the same time, the conversation must also move beyond condemnation. African governments must confront the broader realities driving migration across the continent – poverty, conflict, unemployment, governance failures, and unequal economic opportunities.
Citizens rarely leave their home countries without reason.
Many migrants move in search of survival, opportunity, education, or security. In many cases, they contribute meaningfully to local economies through entrepreneurship, labour, trade, and innovation.
The challenge for Africa therefore is not simply migration itself, but how African states manage migration humanely, lawfully, and strategically without allowing frustration to evolve into hatred.
Ultimately, xenophobia is more than a security issue. It is a test of Africa’s identity.
It challenges whether Pan-Africanism remains a living principle or merely a political slogan repeated at conferences and diplomatic gatherings.
If Africans cannot safely coexist with fellow Africans, then the continent’s broader aspirations for unity, prosperity, and collective global influence may remain difficult to achieve.
Africa’s future cannot be built through division.
The continent’s greatest strength has always been its shared history, shared struggle, and shared destiny. Protecting that vision requires leadership, responsible political rhetoric, economic reform, and above all, a renewed commitment to seeing one another not as foreigners, but as fellow Africans.
