Afro-econophobia: A New Enemy After Africa's political decolonisation?

Africa must confront an uncomfortable reality that political liberation did not automatically produce economic unity. Across parts of South Africa, hostility against fellow Africans has repeatedly erupted in violence, intimidation, and exclusion. The phenomenon is commonly described as xenophobia. But perhaps that term does not fully capture what is happening. What we are witnessing I better coined as Afro-econophobia — the fear of fellow Africans competing for economic opportunities, jobs, businesses, housing, and access to limited public resources due to African governments' failure to deliver.

This distinction matters because the problem is not simply hatred of foreigners in general.

South Africa does not experience the same level of hostility toward all foreigners equally.

The anger is disproportionately directed at African migrants from countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, and elsewhere on the continent.

The resentment is deeply tied to economic insecurity and the perception that migrants are taking” opportunities from locals. It is fear driven by poverty, unemployment, inequality, and state failure.

South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world despite the end of apartheid.

Collective failure

Millions of young people remain unemployed, communities lack adequate services, and frustrations continue to grow.

In such an environment, vulnerable migrants become convenient scapegoats. It is easier for political leaders and frustrated citizens to blame the so-called illegal immigrants than to confront the deeper structural failures of governance, corruption, poor economic planning, and slow transformation.

But responsibility does not lie solely with South Africa.

African governments, both those sending migrants and those receiving them, must accept their collective failure in managing the continent’s economic future. Migration within Africa is not abnormal.

People have always moved in search of safety, dignity, trade, and opportunity. What is abnormal is a continent rich in minerals, land, talent, and youthful energy still failing to create enough economic opportunities for its own people.

Many Africans leave their countries not because they hate their home, but because social, political and economic survival has become difficult. Weak economies, corruption, political instability, poor industrialisation, and lack of employment force people to seek opportunities elsewhere.

When migrants arrive in South Africa, they encounter a population already struggling with economic hardship. The result is competition among people with low incomes for scarce opportunities. Afro-econophobia is therefore born from economic desperation.

This should deeply trouble the continent because Africa once stood united against colonialism and apartheid. During the liberation struggle, many African countries sacrificed resources, hosted refugees, trained freedom fighters, and mobilised diplomatic support for South Africa’s freedom. Countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, and others bore enormous economic and military costs in solidarity with the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and Namibia.

African unity was not merely rhetoric; it was a practical and moral commitment. That spirit of Pan-African solidarity helped dismantle colonial rule and minority oppression. Africans understood that their destinies were interconnected. An attack on one African nation was considered an attack on all.

Afro-econophobia

Today, however, the dream of continental unity appears fragile. Political decolonisation was achieved, but economic decolonisation remains incomplete. Africa removed colonial flags but retained economic systems that continue to produce mass inequality, unemployment, dependency, and competition among the oppressed.

Instead of building integrated, inclusive economies, many African states remain trapped in extractive models that enrich elites while ordinary citizens struggle to survive.

The tragedy is that Africans are increasingly turning against one another rather than against the systems that sustain inequality. Poor South Africans and poor migrants often share the same suffering, yet they are made to see each other as enemies. Afro-econophobia diverts attention from failed leadership and weak economic transformation.

African leaders must therefore reflect seriously during Africa Day commemorations. Speeches celebrating unity are no longer enough. The continent needs policies that make Pan-Africanism economically meaningful to ordinary citizens.

The African Continental Free Trade Area cannot succeed if Africans themselves are unsafe moving across African borders. Regional integration cannot be built only for goods and political conferences while African people remain targets of suspicion and violence.

Governments must invest more aggressively in job creation, industrialisation, education, entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment. Migration management must be humane and cooperative, not driven by populism and fear. Leaders must also stop using migrants as political tools during times of economic frustration. Such rhetoric only deepens divisions among Africans.

At the same time, African intellectuals, churches, universities, civil society, and the media must help reshape the conversation. Words matter. Calling this phenomenon Afro-econophobia forces us to confront its economic roots and continental implications.

It reminds us that the issue is not merely about nationality; it is about the failure to create shared prosperity after liberation.

Africa Day should therefore not only celebrate past victories. It should also challenge us to ask difficult questions about the future of continental unity. What does Pan-Africanism mean if Africans fear one another economically? What kind of liberation was achieved if young Africans must fight fellow Africans for survival? And how can the continent claim unity while economic hardship turns brother/sister against brother/sister?

The struggle for Africa’s liberation is not over. The battlefield has changed. Yesterday’s fight was against colonial domination and apartheid.

Today’s fight is against inequality, exclusion, unemployment, and the erosion of African solidarity. Unless African governments build economies that work for their people, Afro-econophobia will continue to grow, threatening the very unity that once inspired the continent’s liberation movements.

Africa must remember an important lesson from its history: divided Africans are weaker Africans. The future of the continent depends not only on political independence, but also on building an economic order in which Africans no longer see each other as competitors for survival, but as partners in shared progress.

*Ndumba Kamwanyah is a public policy expert focusing on the interplay among social welfare policy, development, and democracy. He is also a peace and reconciliation scholar and a certified mediator with a Master's in conflict studies.