S5 Ep. 291 Breaking The Cycle Of Afrophobia In Africa

Hate can feel natural when you grow up around it, but that’s the lie we challenge today. We’re looking straight at xenophobia and afrophobia in Africa and asking the question most people avoid: if we keep repeating the same cycle, what kind of future are we building for the next generation? This conversation is candid, emotional, and rooted in a clear belief that hate is learned, which means it can also be unlearned. 

We walk through a timeline of major anti-foreigner incidents across Africa, including Ghana’s 1969 Aliens Compliance Order, Uganda’s 1972 expulsion of Asians, Nigeria’s mass expulsions in the 1980s, and the political identity battles that shaped Côte d’Ivoire. From there, we zoom in on post-apartheid South Africa and the repeated waves of xenophobic violence, from early attacks in the late 1990s to the horrific 2008 outbreak, later eruptions in 2015, tensions targeting Nigerian-owned businesses, and the rise of Operation Dudula-style anti-migrant campaigns. Along the way we ask what these patterns reveal about power, economics, scapegoating, and the stories people are taught to believe about “outsiders.” 

But this isn’t just history. We connect it to everyday choices, including how quickly resentment shows up in something as simple as football support, and we wrestle with the cost of revenge logic. If “an eye for an eye” leaves everyone blind, what does it look like to be the better person in the room, to reach out, and to refuse the self-destruct button? If you care about African unity, immigration, social cohesion, and breaking cycles of violence, listen through to the end and share this with someone who needs it. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what you think is the first step to stopping this pattern.

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to my world. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good everything. Wherever you are listening to me on the surface of the earth.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

How are you? I'm fine.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I'm really, really fine. And I'm excited, happy coming into the studio sitting here to share moments with you. It's beautiful. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

It's been an amazing season in the continent of Africa.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

And uh this episode, I don't intend to offend anybody, but I want us to look at it as a people and ask ourselves certain questions.

Hate Is Learned Not Inborn

SPEAKER_00 1:06

It is about the xenophobic and aphrophobic incidents in Africa.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

So a lot has been going on, like I said, in the continent of Africa, and our brothers from South Africa have uh been speaking. And you know, I sat down and I asked myself, hate is actually taught. We don't born, we were not born with the gene to hate people. It was as in we actually learn how to hate people.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

So I went down memory lane. I went into the archives to search out certain things. If you're not careful, you would say things and do things that will affect the next generation and generation and generation because of one silly mistake or stupid mistake you made.

Early Expulsions Across West Africa

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Timeline of major xenophobic and aphrophobic incidents in Africa. Yeah, that's what I want to do today.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

And I want to just take you through certain timelines and see a pattern being repeated itself or being repeated and see if we can courageously stem it, you know, and say, stop.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

So before I go on, I was listening to Vuzi Tembequayo. We all know him, a good number of us know him. Our brother from South Africa and uh on platform. He spoke recently on the platform organized by Pastor Poju Oyema Day. And before he went into his conversation, he he spoke to the xenophobic attacks and all that. And the way he spoke, in my opinion, he was trying to, you know, stay clear of certain things. And he he used words like, they are trying to pitch us against ourselves. And I, as an individual, each time I hear such lines, it's like, who had a day? If we know the day, then we should be ready to fight the day. Like he ended, we are the light, be the light, and all of that. So 1950s to 1960s, we're looking at Afrophobic and xenophobic incidents in Africa from 1926 to 2026. Decolonization era, Ghana in 1969, aliens compliance order. Follow my thoughts. Prime Minister Kofi Buswea ordered undocumented foreigners to leave Ghana. Hundreds of thousands of West African migrants, especially Nigerians, Togo nationals, and upper voter now called Burkina Faso citizens were expelled. One of Africa's earliest large-scale post-independence anti-foreigners action.

Nigeria’s 1980s Deportation Waves

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Uganda, nineteen seventy two, expulsion of Asians. Idi Amin expelled approximately sixty thousand to eighty thousand Asians, mainly of Indian and Pakistani descent. Businesses and properties were seized. This remains one of the largest xenophobic expulsion in modern African history. The nineteen eighties, Nigeria, nineteen eighty-three, mass expulsion of foreign nationals. Amid economic recession, Nigeria expelled over one million migrants, mostly Ghanaians. The phrase Ghana must go became associated with the migration crisis. Migrants from Togo, Niger, Chad, and Bene were also affected. Nigeria again, nineteen eighty-five, second expulsion wave, another large-scale deportation of foreign workers occurred during economic hardship. Nineteen nineties, Côte d'Ivoire, nineteen nineties, avarite campaign, growing political movements questioning the nationality of migrants and descendants of migrants

From Ivoirité To Post-Apartheid Tensions

SPEAKER_00 6:12

from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea led to discrimination, expulsion from politics and violence, became one of the drivers of the Ivorean civil conflict. South Africa post nineteen ninety four, rise of post-apatide xenophobia. After apartheid ended, South Africa became a destination for migrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Somalia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and elsewhere. Anti-immigrant sentiment became increasingly visible in townships and informal settlements. South Africa, the epicenter of modern Afrophobic violence, most documented Afrophobic attacks in South Africa, in Africa, beg your pardon, during the last three decades have occurred in South Africa. 1998, Johannesburg and Cape Town, foreign migrants from Senegal and Mozambique were attacked by mobs. Human rights groups marked this as one of the earliest major xenophobic incidents in democratic South Africa. 2000 to 2007, repeated township attacks. Somali, Ethiopians, Zimbabweans, and Mozambican shopkeepers were frequently targeted. Numerous murders, assaults, and looting incidents were recorded across Geltec and

South Africa’s Major Attack Timeline

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Western Cape provinces. 2008, South Africa's deadliest xenophobic violence. Violence began in Alexandria, Alexandria Township near Johannesburg, spreads rapidly across seven provinces. Migrants from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Somali, Malawi, Ethiopia, and other African countries were targeted. At least sixty-two people were killed. Thousands were injured. Around a hundred thousand people were displaced. Countries most affected Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Somalia, and Ethiopia. 2015, Durban and Johannesburg attacks. Violence erupted in KwaZulu-Natal before spreading nationally. Foreign-owned businesses were looted. Several migrants were killed. Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and other states evacuated citizens. The killing of Mozambique migrant Emanuel Chitol became internationally known. Countries affected Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, Bangladesh among non-African migrants. 2017, anti-Nigerian demonstrations. Nigerian owned businesses became political, became particular targets. Diplomatic tension between Nigeria and South Africa increased. 2019, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Gottag. I hope I got that correctly. Major attacks focused on foreign-owned shops and businesses. Nigerians, Ethiopians, Somalis, Zimbabweans, Congolese migrants were targeted. Several deaths occurred. Nigeria temporarily boycotted the World Economic Forum Africa meeting in Cape Town. Relations between South Africa and several African states deteriorated. 2020 to 2022, Operation Doodoula campaign. Vigilante style anti-migrant movement emerged. Foreign nationals were accused of taking jobs and public services. Migrants reported intimidation, exclusion from health care, and violent attacks. Human Rights Watch documented widespread harassment. Affected groups: Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Somalis, Congolese, Mozambique. 2024 to 2026, renewed anti-migrant violence. New anti-immigration groups, expanded activities, violence, looting, forced displacement, and attacks on migrant communities intensified in parts of Western Cape, Guteng, and KwaZulu-Natal. Multiple African governments issued travel advisories or repatriated citizens. Nigerian, Ghanaian, Malawian, Mozambican, Zimbabwean, and Ethiopian nationals were among those affected.

Patterns, Winners, And A Simple Fix

SPEAKER_00 11:46

So do we see a pattern here? And there's something about patterns, if not broken.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

It will repeat itself over and over and over and over. So who's who's benefiting at the end of the day? Who's losing? Obviously you know the answer. How do we solve the problem? Somebody will ask. The way children will always say, why not we sit down and eat together? Why not we sit and eat together? Is it that difficult? Is it that difficult?

SPEAKER_00 12:45

I think the most simple things in life is what we run away from. We rather run towards complexities.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

That's what we do.

Resilience, Revenge, And Going Blind

SPEAKER_01 12:56

I have traveled a bit around the world. I have, yes, I have.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

And one thing I know about Nigerians, we're very resilient people.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Very, very. If there's something the world doesn't know about Nigerians, we're loving people.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

You may not agree with me, but if you're still around Nigerians, you will know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

We love. We love filling spaces for good. True Nigerian spirit. Yeah, true Nigerian spirit.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

If you sit with a Nigerian at a coffee shop or whatever, he won't allow you pay. He will pay. It's not because he has so much, it's because that's how we behave. I'm not saying we don't have some negative elements around us.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

But you know that much of what we see in terms of development in Africa to the world is from this.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

We have made our own mistakes, like from what I read. When you say an eye for an eye, this is what an eye for an eye does. It means everybody will go blind. We all go blind. If you've read the story of the merchant of Venice when he was asking for a pound of flesh. And he said, a pound of flesh I must get. And when the lawyer came in and said, You requested for a pound of flesh. He said, Yes, that was what we agreed, if it doesn't pay back.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

And the lawyer now asked, did the agreement state blood?

SPEAKER_00 15:06

He was quiet because this is a pound of flesh. So it means if you have to take a pound of flesh, you mustn't spill any blood. You just take a pound of flesh. How is that possible? If I take a pound of flesh, then he will bleed. No, the contract says a pound of flesh.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

So you must take a pound of flesh without spilling any blood. So you see, an eye for an eye, we all go blind. My idea of this episode is to speak to us as people, Africans, Nigerians,

Football Fandom And What Hate Does

SPEAKER_01 15:46

South Africans.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

So something happened the other day when South Africa was playing against Mexico in this World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

I must tell you the truth, I felt bad. When I saw Nigerians supporting Mexico, a part of me was like, okay, this is what you pay. This is a price you pay. But I didn't feel good about it.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Even before coming on set for this edition, we're talking about it. And some somehow it's like South Africa out of the World Cup, some of us were wanted to be happy that they I said, no, they qualify. I think they beat, they lost the first game, drew one, and they won the other game, the la their last game in the group series. So they've advanced. I think it was Vuzitim Dequir's page that I saw it even, you know, and some Nigerians were really not happy about.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

That's what hatred does. That's what it does. But again, do we want to see ourselves? Do you want to break free? Do we want to live and rise above the challenge?

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Then I think we have to be the better person in the room. We have to be the better person in the room. We don't have to reinforce failure and evil and pardons and bring our entire generation under this shackle of hatred.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

It's like we're just waiting to hit the self-destruct button. Yeah, that's what we're doing. I hope we get to see ourselves and appreciate ourselves as Africans, as human beings, and reach out. I'm gonna end with this.

Choosing Love, Faith, And Closing

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Do you know why I believe the Bible? Because most of the things, if not all, when I'm on set, you always hear me. Most of the principles, I put it through.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

The Bible is the only book that tells me, love your enemy. Pray for those who hate you. I have not seen it anyway. So let me know in the Bible. That a man is hanging on the cross to be killed. And those who are killing him, he's begging for them.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

And then he's pleading for them. And he uses, I mean, he used a word that is a line that blew my mind. Forgive them because they are ignorant.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Like they know not what they do. With his last breath, he saved a thief on the cross. Can beat it. You can't beat it. And that's where I stand. Painful as it might sound, it is the truth. And the truth you know. Set you free.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

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SPEAKER_01 19:57

Till I come away again. I mean Mr. Macri. Amakri is away. Bye for now.