In this opinion piece, Mvume Ndimba explores the roots of xenophobia, the frustrations driving it and why he believes South Africa risks forgetting one of its most important lessons: our humanity is tied to the humanity of others.
As a South African, I am deeply patriotic towards my country. I fully and wholeheartedly believe that South Africa is the greatest country on Earth. From the sun-kissed beaches to the sprawling natural fauna and flora, to the scores of people of different races and ethnicities who call South Africa “home”, we have, hands down, the greatest diversity on the planet.
As one of the only countries that was able to stage an almost bloodless revolution, we have always been in the corner of the everyman, we have always seen injustice and spoken up. (It would be irresponsible of me not to mention the likes of Hector Pieterson, whose death will be commemorated next week). We lost many lives in the struggle for liberation, but those sacrifices made by our fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts ensured that millions more lives would be saved from enduring the indignity of the Apartheid regime.
We were one of the first African nations to mobilise during the Covid-19 pandemic, we were the first nation to stand up and demand justice for the people of Gaza and when the world got tricked into believing that we (Black South Africans) were performing a “genocide” on our fellow countrymen because of the colour of their skin, we invited the loudest voices in the “white genocide” camp to come see the country for themselves.
South Africa has always been a comparative “good guy” in the eyes of the world and subsequently, in my eyes as a citizen. Yes, we have our issues, our infrastructure is failing, corruption in the country has never been more prominent than it is today, the story of the Tembisa Hospital scandal still gives me sleepless nights, the ongoing Madlanga Commission has uncovered so much that we all knew was happening, but couldn’t really prove without evidence. The political system has its flaws admittedly, but our robust legal system has and always will be there to keep them honest, or at the very least, keep them modest.
Why Xenophobia Concerns Me
So, please understand my concern at the stunning lack of action on the matter of xenophobia in our country. I understand that the law is not a quick fix for societal issues, I understand that at the heart of these attacks is a deep sense of marginalisation in the country you live in. But why are we doing this to our own neighbours and why has it taken decades to find some meaningful solution to the gripes of everyday South Africans? Why, in the year 2026, is the foreign man in a foreign land still the scapegoat of desperate South Africans?
I mentioned above that South Africa is diverse, beautiful with a rich history of inter-tribal unity and cohesion. So watching people who look like me attack other people who look like me is disheartening. I’m sure for you, my lovely reader, watching people from Africa attack and harm people from Africa is equally unnerving.
And my question is, when did we forget?
When Did We Forget?
In the 1970s, one of the main political parties supporting the “Abahambe” movement, uMkhonto weSizwe was banned and subsequently exiled, when did we forget who helped bring them home?
When the nation of Zambia allowed for the ANC to be headquartered on their land, or Tanzania offered training camps for prospective soldiers, when Angola and Botswana hosted political refugees of this nation, when did we forget our historical ties to Ghana, Cuba and the now-defunct USSR, when did we forget who we are?
In South Africa, and amongst my tribesmen, we have a saying that goes, “Umntu ngumntu ngabantu” – directly translated it means “a person is a person through other people”, but if you allow me to paraphrase and get in my bag, I know this saying to mean, “your humanity is intrinsically tied to the humanity of others. Once you cease to see others as human, you in turn lose your humanity.”
It would be disingenuous of me, however, to not make mention of the reasons these groups are as popular today as they have ever been. The ugly truth is that many South Africans of all races and cultures are feeling immense financial pressure in 2026, we all know that our government has not made our interests as South Africans their priority, so when we see someone from another country living and in some cases thriving in the same country we toiled and bled for, well that leaves a bad taste in our mouths.
We know that many of the people we see and hear about scamming, trafficking and selling drugs are foreign nationals, we also know many of our doctors, engineers and even colleagues happen to be foreign nationals too, and that’s how humanity works. We have good people and we have people who do bad things, sometimes they do bad things for fun, for pleasure and sometimes it’s for survival, not because they’re Nigerian, not because they’re Zimbabwean or Mozambican, they do these bad things out of necessity and to paint everyone outside of your “group” with the same brush is dangerous.
Who Benefits From Division?
Our nation comes from a mentality that said all Black people were dumb, our nation said to our faces that we are all criminals and terrorists, they called us names that also began with a k and they refused to even acknowledge the possibility that we might be individuals, they didn’t see South Africans when they saw us, they saw murderers, rapists, thieves, kitchen girls, garden boys, entertainment, disposable bodies used only to benefit them… fast forward 30 years and we are now treating the next man that exact same way.
We know that there’s more than enough wealth in this country to sustain all of us, but the wealth is hoarded, not by foreign nationals, the wealth is hoarded by the same people who are supporting and allegedly (heavy on the “allegedly”) funding movements like Abahambe, Operation Dudula and March and March. The wealth is hoarded by the descendants of those who told you to hate your neighbour for their skin colour, to hate your coworker because of who he votes for.
The people who are hoarding the wealth of the country have never used public transport, never sold a gram of cocaine or needed to be treated at a public hospital before, as much as I despise agreeing publicly with Julius Malema, his question on the matter is incredibly powerful.
When asked about the movement he merely responded saying:
“Okay. We chased out 300 illegal immigrants. Wonderful, where are the 300 jobs that chasing these people out created?”
In closing, I want to quote a famous poem that was written during World War II by a German pastor named Martin Niemöller, the poem is titled First They Came. It is a simple prose that succinctly describes the slow progression of tyranny. How it starts way “over there” and happens to “them”, you don’t notice… you don’t see it, you don’t see the Nazi as a bad thing until something bad happens to you:
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.”
Who will be there to speak out for you once the foreigner is gone? Once the “white man” is gone, once the feminist is gone, once the gay man or woman is gone, once the “clever” people are gone? If we don’t speak out now, I’m afraid there will be nobody left to speak out for us one day when it’s our turn.
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