Across parts of South Africa, scenes of burning shops, fleeing families and frightened African migrants have once again exposed a painful fracture in continental relations. In cities such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, etc., renewed anti-foreigner tensions have left many Nigerians, other African nationals and white Africans living under fear, uncertainty and economic vulnerability.
Xenophobic violence in South Africa has been discussed largely as a security and humanitarian crisis, over a prolonged period. But behind the attacks, lies a more painful Africa-transnational reality that the victims of these attacks, are migrants-recipients of their various countries’ failure in governance for socioeconomic wellbeing, back home, across the African continent. The abysmal crisis goes beyond why South Africans are attacking fellow Africans, to questioning why many non-South Africans feel compelled to leave their home countries to anywhere, in the first place.
Nigeria’s migration wave, popularly described as the “japa” movement, is increasingly less about ambition and more about survival, and so are other migration intents in other African countries. It’s ambitious. Doggedness for better livelihood, or future, if you may. Behind every bus ride to another African country, every visa application and every dangerous relocation journey, is a familiar story of economic frustration, unemployment, weak institutions, shrinking hope, non-existing governance, staring hopelessness, etc.
While South African communities wrestle with rising poverty, inequality and joblessness, many Nigerians/other Africans arriving there, are escaping similar pressures, probably because of their intense driving-zeal to achieve destiny without the contraction of crime. The result is a collision of two national crises as painted by the actions of South Africans; with the ordinary migrants trapped in the middle. In a continent with a common racial-colour identity. Could this be spurred by jealousy, hate, hosts’-laziness towards attainment while migrants spring economically, or what?
Even South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently acknowledged that governance failures across Africa, are fueling migration pressures. How about South Africa with the online viral pandemic-spread of street crime, daily car/phone theft, house burgling, bullion-van robbery, gang-banging, etc., could these be caused by governance-failures in South Africa too? Well, as Ramaphosa remarks, though it sounded controversial in some Africans’ circles, but it sure reflects a growing diplomatic concern that migration within Africa can no longer be separated from socioeconomic collapse, youth unemployment, weak governance structures and less infrastructural developmental leverages across the African continent.
This is where the conversation becomes politically sensitive. As for Nigeria that has been long celebrated as the “Giant of Africa”, Ghana, well embraced as the most peaceful nation in Africa, amongst some others, etc., they continue to struggle with conditions that push millions of their citizens outward, despite the countries’ vast oil/mineral resources wealth, youthful population and entrepreneurial potentials.
For example, in communities across Nigeria, young graduates speak openly about abandoning dreams of building businesses at home because of unstable electricity, rising inflation, limited access to credit, devaluation of the currency, collapse of social-trust for government/her structure and declining public trust in institutions. Small business owners complain of surviving without state support while navigating multiple taxes, insecurity and a banking system, many believe serves government borrowing, more than grassroots enterprise.
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