Justice Malala: SA's anti-migrant violence exposes Africa's bigger failure

Political columnist Justice Malala calls South Africa's recent anti-migrant attacks reprehensible and reputationally damaging, risking major investments like MTN and Shoprite across the continent. In this piece for Bloomberg Opinion, he argues outrage at South Africa can't be the whole story. Malala points to Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa extending his rule past 2030 and Uganda's Muhoozi Kainerugaba crushing independent media, asking why African leaders escape scrutiny while migrants risking the Limpopo River take the blame. He contrasts Zimbabwe's collapse with Botswana's three decades of growth under democratic governance, arguing that leadership — not colonialism or geography — determines whether people stay or flee..By Justice Malala.As betrayals go, South Africa turning its back on the African continent is particularly brutal. Between 1960 and 1994, when South Africa’s liberation movements were banned and leaders like Nelson Mandela were imprisoned by the apartheid government, other African countries established camps and schools for the diaspora and gave money and military assistance to the resistance.Yet last week, a months-long violent campaign of anti-African immigrant protests by the newly minted organization March and March culminated in attacks on homes and property and the shutdown of major cities. Although the rallies didn’t descend into the wholesale violence authorities and analysts had feared, shameful scenes of South Africans attacking alleged illegal foreigners and citizens they misidentified as immigrants were beamed across the globe. Organizers have vowed to protest every Thursday until local elections scheduled for Nov. 4.Make no mistake, these attacks are reprehensible, hateful, xenophobic, largely misinformed and have damaged South Africa’s reputation. The anti-migrant campaign imperils major investments — such as MTN Group, Africa's largest mobile network operator, and its largest fast-moving consumer goods retailer Shoprite Group — on the African continent as pressure mounts from key destinations such as Nigeria for boycotts and diplomatic sanctions to be imposed.That said, tough questions need to be asked of Africa’s leaders about why millions of their citizens gamble with death to reach Europe or to wade through the crocodile-infested Limpopo River to escape Zimbabwe and reach South Africa. For too long, pointing out the faults of fellow Africans was seen as playing into the West’s post-colonial playbook. Those arguments are no longer sustainable as Africans themselves are asking these questions. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an address to his nation that solving migration pressures requires “peace where there is conflict, economic growth where there is stagnation and opportunity where there is poverty.” Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on a visit to South Africa in mid-June that any discussion on migration should focus on root causes instead of blaming a single country. He said poverty, conflict, and limited opportunities in countries of origin must be addressed, rather than shifting the blame to destination states such as South Africa.The plain language version of their diplomatese is that Africans are fleeing undemocratic and kleptocratic leaders to find succor in places where they feel they can can live freely and prosper.Take mineral-rich Zimbabwe, the home nation of by far the vast majority of illegal immigrants in South Africa. Its former President Robert Mugabe was ousted from office after 37 years; his successor since 2017, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has just changed the constitution to extend his power beyond 2030. Instead of condemning him, Ramaphosa rewarded him with a high-profile visit two months ago. The millions of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa weren’t mentioned. So even as South Africa drives out unregistered Zimbabweans — 60,000 were deported just last week — many more will continue to come because their home country is politically and economically intolerable.In Uganda, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the army chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni (41 years in office), has just shut down the country’s main independent media group’s television station and newspaper. Two weeks ago, Kainerugaba kidnapped an opposition leader and posted pictures on X of the man begging for mercy while being tortured. Other African leaders have kept quiet while all this goes on, but continue to act surprised when political and economic refugees flow from that country.It won’t get better anytime soon unless something changes. According to US nonprofit Freedom House, nine countries have slid into dictatorship from democracy in Africa since 2019. Many of these nations are blessed with abundant mineral wealth — but only politically connected elites benefit. It’s convenient for the privileged to blame colonialism for Africa’s migration crisis. There’s some truth to that, of course; but look at South Africa’s western neighbor, Botswana. It experienced 30 years of annual economic expansion surpassing 7% due to the astute management of its diamond wealth and its fidelity to democratic leadership. Botswana’s people don’t leave; leadership matters.What’s to be done? Ironically, African leaders have in recent decades shown the way. Through the Lome Agreements of 2000, African Union (AU) leaders agreed to hold each other accountable and to shun or even boot out anti-democratic actors and kleptocrats among them. Major state wars in Africa declined to just four in 2010 from 12 in 2000. African leaders have now thrown their admirable handiwork aside. The AU has reverted to the bad ways of its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, which was notorious for tolerating dictators..Riots, evacuations and trade threats: How South Africa's migrant crisis went regional.If a few good leaders can rejuvenate the AU and reinforce the spine of the Lome agreement, then there’s hope — and South Africa’s hateful protests against fellow Africans would have achieved at least one good thing..© 2026 Bloomberg L.P..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. 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Justice Malala: SA's anti-migrant violence exposes Africa's bigger failure

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