Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and the issue of Immigration.

In 1969, the Busia government of Ghana expelled more than one million immigrants, majority of whom were Nigerians. In 1983 the Shagari government in Nigeria gave two weeks to the over two million ‘illegal’ immigrants to leave Nigeria. Majority of those affected were Ghanaians. Today, Nigeria and Ghana are among the loudest countries complaining about ‘Afrophobia’ orchestrated by Zulu led activists in South Africa.

One thing that is common in all these actions is that the decision to chase away fellow Africans whether by governments or the vigilantes has always been supported by an overwhelming number of citizens of the countries carrying out those expulsions.

In this present saga, South Africa’s sin looks magnified because of social media effect and the fact that majority of the people are ignorant of historical precedent. Unlike in the case of Ghana and Nigeria, the South African government has not mass expelled Africans residing in South Africa. The Ramaphosa government in South Africa can only be faulted on the grounds that it did not act decisively to rein in the activists. With elections around the corner, it is easy to appreciate why Ramaphosa is cautiously navigating the politically mined slippery road.

The idea of using migrant workers and refugees in Africa as scapegoats for host countries’ ills is wrong. Often their departure from those countries does not necessarily have any positive impact on the trajectory of the countries.

The fact that this continent is still bedevilled by this shameful spectacle of expelling millions of Africans at short notice from respective ‘micro’ African states is a clear indication of failure of leadership on the continent. Can somebody really justify why in 2026, Africa still prefers to have mostly poorly governed and corruption ridden 54 neocolonial ‘micro states’ instead of a United States of Africa? For a continent that currently harbors about 40% of the world’s armed conflicts with the resultant displacement of millions, the destabilizing effect of this South African Afrophobia on Africa and South Africa itself should not be underestimated. The fall out can be measured from the bickering, name calling and the desire for revenge by ordinary Africans and some political leaders alike. This is a bad omen for Africa. Only immature African leaders would push for a tit-for-tat approach to this issue. Our detractors are hoping that we go that way and trigger more chaos in an already chaotic continent. The rest of Africa should tone down the bellicose rhetoric and allow president Ramaphosa to manage this crisis that has a heavy dose of political undertones. Elections are around the corner and as head of a coalition government, a weakened Ramaphosa has an uphill task to manage this issue that has indirectly become political capital to his opponents notably Jacob Zuma.

What we are going through on the continent are consequences of our inability to unite Africa since the idea was put on the table more than 63 years ago by Kwame Nkrumah. We cannot continue like this and expect a different outcome.

Related 2008 article. Why some South Africans attack Foreigners.

https://www.njeitimah-outlook.com/articles/article/2076046/102467.htm