South Africa: Turning Protests into Talk About Migration and Our Future

The challenge now is to change the crisis from the protests into a real talk among ourselves and with our African neighbours about how to deal with migration issues and find solutions together. To have a true conversation about immigration, we must ask why so many Africans leave their homes in the first place.

In recent months, South Africans have seen scenes that would disturb anyone.

Vigilante groups have chased immigrants in their homes and on the streets. Spaza shops have been looted and burnt. Families looking for safety and opportunity have been pushed into makeshift camps, while their home countries have had to send buses and special flights to bring them back from a place they once saw as a land of hope.

People from our continent, who share our history and struggles, have been made to feel like outsiders. They have been told they do not belong.

Protesters say that uncontrolled immigration has brought too many people into our country, that they have taken our jobs and houses, and increased crime in our neighbourhoods. We are told that we do not have the space or resources to host those escaping failures in their own countries.

In contrast, many Africans view the situation as a human rights issue where their fellow citizens, whether documented or not, are being mistreated.

It is clear there are no easy answers or simple solutions to this economic, moral, and political challenge. It touches on people's fears and their feelings of identity and belonging. South Africa is not alone in facing these issues. Across the world, societies are struggling with who belongs, how to accommodate newcomers, and how to balance compassion with social unity.

In After Europe, Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev argued that the 2015 refugee crisis in Europe marked a turning point in Western politics. He believed that large-scale migration sparked fears that were not just economic but also existential.

Anti-immigrant feelings helped rise illiberal and often anti-democratic parties. Frank Furedi calls this new populism the “politics of fear.” According to Furedi, fear damages social trust. When people see others mainly as threats, whether criminals, extremists, foreigners, or sources of problems, social solidarity weakens.

This has led to a serious shift towards identity politics, where tribe, religion, race, language, and birthplace define who belongs. It sorts people into competing groups of insiders and outsiders, redefining the nation and challenging democratic ideals of diversity and equality.

For thirty years, South Africa has mostly resisted exclusionary nationalism. The belief that citizenship should cross ethnic lines and that belonging should not depend on tribe or origin is central to the democratic framework built in 1994.

In South Africa, we must be aware of the dangers of politics based on ethnic and group division, where political identity is mixed with economic goals.

Protesters say they have public support for their legitimate concerns about crowded hospitals, unscrupulous employers hiring low-wage foreigners, and an immigration system that often benefits officials financially. But polls do not support the mob justice, looting, and dehumanisation that have come with some protests.

Protesters claim they are only targeting undocumented migrants. But on the streets, black African foreigners are the targets. The Somali trader, the Zimbabwean worker, the Ethiopian shopkeeper, the Nigerian entrepreneur, and the Congolese mechanic are rarely judged by their legal status. South Africans have also faced harassment for speaking a different language, coming from another province, or being mistaken for foreigners.

Africa knows what happens when political leaders start defining who belongs. The experience of identity politics dates back to our darkest days, when colonialists divided us into tribes to control the people they conquered.

The mass expulsion of immigrants, and sometimes citizens of the wrong ethnicity, is not new in Africa. Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire have their own histories of this. The key difference now is that these expulsions were led by governments. What we see in South Africa is more dangerous: a populist movement from the streets that, in some areas, has taken power to enforce its own version of law.

We are seeing the actions of harmful outside networks of funders, organisers, and social media operators of bot farms. They transport protesters across provinces. They amplify outrage online. They create stories designed to turn neighbours against each other, communities against each other, and countries against each other.

When the state loses its control over the legitimate use of force, it loses more than just control of the streets. It loses the power to decide who is protected by the law and who is not. That power shifts to whoever can gather the biggest mob or wield the strongest stick. No democracy can survive that for long.

We should stop pretending this is somehow natural. The protests have been driven by opportunistic politicians who are using people's fears for political gain, especially with the November local elections coming up. Also, criminal gangs see a chance to take over businesses and loot the belongings of those being pushed out.

In addition, we see the influence of harmful outside networks of funders, organisers, and social media operators of bot farms. They move protesters across provinces. They stir up anger online. They create stories aimed at pitting neighbours against each other, communities against each other, and countries against each other.

One way to think about this is through Ivan Krastev’s view that in the twenty-first century, foreign intelligence agencies are becoming key authors of national histories. Here, we do not know if their goal is to support local political groups or to simply destabilise South Africa and cut us off from our neighbours.

What we can say is that blaming foreign nationals for South Africa’s problems is fundamentally wrong.

The decline of parts of our cities, the collapse of public services, ongoing unemployment, and an economy that fails to create enough opportunities are due to policy failures over many years. These problems were not caused by migrants.

South Africa’s economic crisis is the result of weak growth, poor governance, failing education systems, infrastructure issues, and deep inequality. If every foreign national left tomorrow, those problems would still be there. In fact, they would likely worsen.

This does not mean we should ignore the governance failures around migration. Citizens of a nation have the right to expect their borders will be managed fairly and effectively. The blame for failures in migration management should not fall only on those who have moved to South Africa seeking safety or a better future. The real blame should land on institutions that have failed to enforce the law, secure borders, and manage immigration systems properly.

There is no proof that crime would vanish if every foreign national left. Drug trafficking, organised crime, corruption, and violence are deep-rooted issues involving South Africans and foreigners alike.

When managed well, immigration can greatly boost economic activity, especially in poorer communities. Immigrants come as entrepreneurs, traders, professionals, and service providers. They create businesses, generate demand, rent homes, use transport networks, buy goods and services, and contribute to the tax base.

Economist Alan Hirsch has consistently argued that South Africa should see immigration as a chance for development, not a security threat. South Africa’s issue is not too many migrants but too little growth and, additionally, high levels of economic exclusion.

Hirsch has pointed out that South Africa loses many skilled citizens to emigration while making it hard for skilled foreigners to come and stay. This leads to a net loss of talent. Migrants often represent a large portion of entrepreneurs and small business owners. They take risks, start businesses, and create networks that add to economic activity.

Hirsch places migration into a wider historical context. South Africa’s mining industry, agriculture, trade, and cities were all built on migration. Movement has long been a part of economic development, not an exception.

Across Africa, trade has always moved alongside human movement. The great trading cultures of the continent understood this long before economists developed ideas around regional integration. The Mende traders of West Africa, the Somali merchant networks that span continents, and the Ethiopian commercial communities that connect distant markets all show how migration and business work together.

Research by urban planner Tanya Zack on Ethiopian traders in Johannesburg shows how migrant entrepreneurs revive neglected business areas, create supply chains, lower consumer prices, and drive economic activity in poor communities. Their success comes from business networks, long trading traditions, collective purchasing agreements, and remarkable hard work, rather than taking opportunities from South Africans.

The task before us is larger than just restoring order. We need to reinvent not only an economy of inclusion but also a politics of inclusion: a democracy strong enough to defeat those who profit from anger and division. That is the South Africa our children deserve. And that is the future we must have the courage to build together.

Her work shows how migrant trading networks have helped reshape the economic landscape of a city long past its mining boom. Through connections stretching from China to East Africa and across Southern Africa, migrant entrepreneurs have transformed Johannesburg into a regional trade hub.

In other words, they create growth. And growth is exactly what South Africa desperately needs. If allowed to thrive, and supported by good regulations, these networks have the potential to turn Johannesburg and Durban into trade gateways for the region: African commercial crossroads connecting producers, wholesalers, transporters, and consumers across multiple countries.

Instead, we find ourselves at a different and more dangerous crossroads. The protesters, and the hidden forces pushing them, are trying to undermine our democracy, stability, and threaten our future. The images of the protests, boosted by fake or recycled pictures falsely showing attacks on other Africans, have spread across social media, creating a false impression that all of South Africa is rising against its northern neighbours.

Most South Africans condemn the violence and dehumanisation of fellow Africans. Trade unions, churches, civil society groups, and communities across the country have all spoken out. The voices of division and ethnicity are loud, but they are not the only voices in South Africa.

And yet from Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Addis Ababa, and Harare, Africans have watched the protests with sadness, disbelief, and anger. The danger is not just to our reputation. South Africa’s prosperity is increasingly linked to the rest of the continent. South African banks, retailers, telecommunications companies, logistics firms, and manufacturers are growing across Africa because that is where many of the fastest-growing opportunities and markets are.

At exactly the moment when the African Continental Free Trade Area is trying to strengthen integration and reduce barriers between African economies, South Africa is sending the opposite message, that Africans are welcome as customers, investors, and consumers, but not as people.

We cannot afford to ignore Africa. We must give up the idea that we stand apart from Africa. We are not a European country at the southern tip of Africa. We are an African country, connected by geography, history, trade, and destiny to the continent around us.

The challenge now is to change the crisis from the protests into a real conversation among ourselves and with our African neighbours about how to deal with migration issues and find solutions together. To have an honest conversation about immigration, we must ask why so many Africans leave their homes in the first place.

As long as states remain weak, institutions are corrupt, and public office is used for personal gain instead of service, millions of Africans will keep looking for opportunities elsewhere. Restoring institutional strength and good governance means building states that uphold the law, provide security, create economic opportunities, and earn the trust of their citizens. Strengthening the credibility and stability of state institutions is key.

The second challenge is conflict. In the age of drones and AI wars, conflicts are becoming easier to start and almost impossible to end. Ongoing wars, from the Sahel to Sudan to Eastern Congo, create waves of refugees and migrants forced to seek safety beyond their borders.

The third challenge is economic. Africa needs a growth strategy that matches the scale of the crisis we face. We need a joint action plan where South Africa and bigger African economies take the lead. We must use our advantages, our young population and the digital growth that connects people and builds economies.

Our future success will depend on helping build an Africa that thrives alongside us. Our markets are in Africa. Our opportunities are in Africa. Our future is in Africa.

For now, we seem to have stopped the worst of the violence. The South African government’s response to the events of 30 June showed that by upholding the law and refusing to let vigilantes take control of the streets, violence does not have to be the outcome of populist provocation.

But we must remember that the state was reacting to a call made by non-state actors. For me, that is the real issue. We cannot allow harmful non-state actors to disrupt the state’s plans and decisions, especially on social security and national security.

The task before us is bigger than just restoring order. We need to create not only an economy of inclusion but also a politics of inclusion: a democracy strong enough to defeat those who profit from anger and division. That is the South Africa our children deserve. And that is the future we must have the courage to build together.