The Roots of African Xenophobia: A Critical Comparison of Economic, Political, and Postcolonial Explanations

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Pantheon Books. jpaswr Policy Brief Limits of Current Approaches to Xenophobia in Africa and is the Recipe for Change Group 3 | Centre for Peace and Security Studies, University of Port Harcourt | June 2026 The Problem The findings provide extensive implications for understanding and addressing xenophobia in Africa. Across the continent, people are being divided by xenophobic violence. In South Africa, the attacks of 2008, 2015, 2019 and 2022 resulted in the deaths of dozens and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. Exclusionary nationality laws in Côte d'Ivoire directly led to a civil war. The indigene-settler dichotomy has given rise to persistent episodes of violence in Jos, Ife- Modakeke and Zango-Kataf in Nigeria. The Tunisian government authorised mass deportations of sub-Saharan migrants in 2023. These are not individual occurrences. They are a symptom of a deeper underlying problem, linked by respective national governments, civil society organisations, and citizens to either economic challenges or political factors. The economic diagnosis gives rise to job creation schemes and anti-competition narratives. The political diagnosis gives rise to campaigns to resist elite scapegoating. Both are wrong. Economic insecurity alone does not explain the targets. In 2019, about 40% of the perpetrators in Johannesburg were working. The Chinese, South Asian and European traders who operate in the same economic niche as the Zimbabweans or Somali migrants were largely exempted. Economic grievance gives energy, but does not dictate the target. The overlooked factor is colonial architecture. The colonial term “alien” is still used in South Africa's legislation. Indigene certificates are still being issued in Nigeria which serve as one determinant of access to land, employment, scholarships and access to political office. The doctrine of Côte d'Ivoire's ivoirité was directly inspired by the colonial division between “authentic” populations and migrant labour. With these structures subsisting, no police or no public relations stunt will ensure lasting peace. What the Evidence Shows Evidence from South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Tunisia suggests a consistent trend. In each instance, the focus on migrants and “strangers” was based on inherited categorical distinctions (native/settler, citizen/alien, Arab/Black) that existed prior to the immediate situation. Political entrepreneurs stirred the hostility in each instance. In all these instances, the categories are referable to colonial or pre-colonial administrative settings. This evidence informs a three-layered model, the Colonial Substrate-Activation Model. Colonial othering is the frame that creates what is “in” and what is “out.” It's the fear of poverty that gives rise to anger and the need for an explanation. That frustration is directed at a pre-labeled target through the leveraging of political manipulation, which has grown in intensity through the use of digital platforms. Take out the frame, and the fuel and the spark are no longer able to create organised violence. Recommendations For the African Union: Ramp up the implementation of the continental free movement protocol. Pan-African solidarity must not be a slogan when African states criminalise African movement. The AU should also put in place a regular review mechanism to review member states citizenship laws with regard to exclusionary categories, which date back to colonial era and to connect progress with governance. jpaswr - For National Governments: reform citizenship and residency law so that access to rights (land, work, education, political office etc.) is not dependent on colonial indigene/settler categories. The federal character provisions in Nigeria as well as the alien designation in South Africa need to be reviewed urgently through legislation. At the same time, revise educational curricula to reinsert pre-colonial African mobility, trade and intercultural exchange. Young Africans need to be schooled in the fact that open borders are an African tradition and not a foreign imposition. Civil Society Organisations : move advocacy from incident-focused to structural change. It is crucial that coalition-building takes place among migrant communities, legal reform groups and education activists. There is further a need to urge platforms and governments to monitor digital mobilisation of xenophobic attacks at an early stage, since in the case of the South Africa violence, the attacks started weeks before the actual physical violence. Conclusion African xenophobic violence is not a problem of bad people or bad times. It is a crisis of inherited structures, that determine the belonging in exclusionary terms. Policing and rhetoric management seek to address the symptoms. Citizenship law reform, decolonising curricula and continental free movement, treat the disease. The decision to opt for either one of these is also one to opt for short- term containment or long-term peace.