DEVELOPMENTAL DISCOURSE with Amos SAFO: South Africa could be counting more losses than gains

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since May 2026, when reports of xenophobic attacks on other African’s some irate South Africans. Thanks to the power of social media and eyewitness reporters, vivid photos and videos of beating of fellow Africans and the looting of shops belonging to migrants from other Africans are still going viral, revealing that  the ongoing attacks appear to be more brutal than previous attacks.

Due to local outcries and media publications the Ghana Government was compelled to evacuate Ghanaians in South Africa who were at risk and willing to return home. So far about a thousand Ghanaians have been flown home. Some South Africans, notably, Julius Malema and Jacinta Zumah who is the brain behind the ongoing attacks blamed the Ghana government for evacuating its people too quickly.

According to Julius Malema, Ghana’s response was unnecessary and created the impression that all South Africans support xenophobic actions against foreign nationals. Malema stated that the situation should have been handled internally, stressing that only a small group of individuals were behind the attacks due to claims that foreigners were taking local jobs.

Some Ghanaians are very agitated that Jacintah Zumah is among the people blaming the Ghana government for evacuating its population. Does she want Ghanaians to be killed before the government responds? That would have amounted to dereliction of duty, if our government failed to act.

Consequences

A few weeks ago, a pressure group called the Ghana First Alliance appealed to the Ghana Government not to renew the mining lease of Gold Fields Tarkwa in 2027 when its current licence expires.   According to the spokesman of the Alliance the petition was a direct response to the unprovoked xenophobic attacks on Ghanaians based in South Africa. They added that the violent attacks have disrupted the livelihoods of the affected Ghanaians in South Africa. “We demand that the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources should refuse to renew any expired, corporate and mining licence of any South African owned company in Ghana, especially the Tarkwa mines”, the group warned.

In response, the management of Gold Fields has reportedly asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to lobby President Mahama not to cancel the licence. News is also circulating that the company plans to sue Ghana at the international court of arbitration, when diplomacy fails. Many Africans, including Ghanaians have accused the government of President Ramaphosa of failing to stop the xenophobic attacks on Ghanaians and other African; claiming that the attacks and looting of shops owned by the so-called African immigrants were sponsored by the South African government and the white establishment.

Diplomatic accountability

The Ghana First Alliance based it demand for non-renewal on the two justifications : (1) Diplomatic accountability and reciprocity (2) International relations and resource diplomacy, which are built on the foundation of reciprocity.  They disclosed that between 2017 and 2027 Ghanaians, and their businesses have faced systemic attacks and economic displacements without any intervention from the South African government led by Cyril Ramaphosa. They renounced the belated attempts by Mr. Ramaphosa to use diplomatic approaches to resolve Ghana’s plans to renew the mining licence. “Where was the President of South Africa when Ghanaians were being brutalized”?

Economic implications

No doubt a refusal to renew the licence could have dire economic implications for both South Africa and Ghana. The Tarkwa Gold Mine, which is operated by a South African company, is one of the largest open-pit gold mines in Africa. Tarkwa produces about 551,000 ounces of gold annually, generating an estimated $1 billion to $2.3 billion in revenue per year. Most of the proceeds are repatriated to boost the South African economy. The company also provides critical foreign exchange that helps stabilize Ghana’s currency.

Moreover, the mine generates significant employment, state revenue, and infrastructure investment for Ghana, but on the whole, it benefits South Africa’s economy more than Ghana’s due to the millions of dollars it repatriates annually to boost the South African economy. In a video posted on social media another pressure group recalled that the South African company has been mining in Ghana for more than 33 years, during which it used its profits to acquire mining interests in Australia, Peru and Canada. The group argued that the South African economy has benefitted tremendously from Ghana’s gold than Ghana. This buttresses several arguments that South Africa needs other African countries, much as other African countries need South Africa. From what is unfolding, it is apparent that the South African government will be counting more losses than gains as the xenophobia sees no end.

Local ownership

Ghana First Alliance, which describes itself as coalition of patriots and CSO activists has suggested that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources should restructure Ghana’s resource ownership. “It is time to look inward and reclaim our extractive sector for local investors. This will empower Ghanaians to own controlling interest in the extractive sector.

Trail of attacks

• Between 1994 and 2024, xenophobic attacks in South Africa resulted in 669 deaths, 5,310 looted shops, and over 127,000 people displaced, the vast majority of victims being fellow Africans.
• South Africa’s youth unemployment stood at 32.9% in 2025, and economic frustration is consistently being redirected as anger toward foreign nationals
• South Africa hosts nearly four million foreign nationals, yet its youth persistently claim other Africans are “stealing jobs.” This view cannot be substantiated, as foreign workers with permits cannot legally take positions where qualified locals exist.

Many political analysts believe that Xenophobia in South Africa is not a random street problem. It is an engineered crisis, properly planned and properly funded by the dominant establishments of the ruling class. It fueled by the remnants of South African whites and western powers who used Apartheid as a means of political dominance and economic exploitation.

The game plan

Step 1 — Isolate Black South Africans from the rest of Black Africa. Make them hate their brothers and sisters from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia among others. The aim is to destroy continental unity within.  Destroy continental unity from the inside.

Step 2 — Let the chaos grow. Let the economy suffer. Let crime rise. Let Black-led government look weak and incompetent.

Step 3 — Strike. Come back with a narrative. “We gave you a functional

country and you destroyed it. Black people cannot govern themselves. South Africa is the proof.”

Step 4 — Reclaim governance. Open immigration doors wide, for others, but not for Africans. For white Europeans, Americans, and Israelis. The agenda is to rebuild the country in their image, and systematically push the black population to the margins through civil crisis, race wars, and legal manipulation. It is believed that the hatred that has engulfed Southern African neighbours did not grow naturally. It was panted, nurtured, carefully calculated, generously funded, and quietly inserted into the culture through powerful western media, politics, and economic pressure on the government to abandon its pro-east foreign policy like joining the BRICS movement.

The pattern of the agenda is simple: Divide- Destabilise- Discredit- Conquer. This was the same pattern used to distabilise Libya, once Africa’s economic success story. Libya’s downfall is still fresh in our minds. The same strategy is being used in Sudan. And right now, Black South Africans are being used as weapons against fellow Africans as a preparatory plan to justify a takeover. These warning signs are too clear for Black Africa.  The question is,  are our leaders seeing the agenda? No one needs to remind African leaders that unity is not optional, it is survival strategy, it is the framework for the revival of Pan-Africanism and the Africa Free Continental Area. A successful continental free trade area is the biggest threat to western hegemony, so they will look on for Africa to be transformed through unity and free trade. Unfortunately, some South Africans have the willing tolls to be used to offset the Pan-African revival.

Contradiction

Whereas South Africa presents itself as the symbol of African liberation and Pan-African solidarity; it has failed to make itself a haven for all, especially legal migrants.  Clearly, no new jobs were automatically created because of 1000 Ghanaian citizens departed South Africa, because Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Namibians, Nigerians, Zambians etc have left South Africa. Malema’s point was simple: forcing Africans out of South Africa does not solve unemployment. Destroying businesses, shutting down shops, disrupting trade networks, and terrorizing migrant communities only weakens economic activity further, while politicians escape accountability for corruption, unemployment, and failed governance. The deeper reality is that South Africa faces structural economic problems that migrants did not create.

The painful irony is that Xenophobia has disrupted South Africa’s economic growth than it has helped to create jobs and economic opportunities for South African youth. The annual phenomenon is a self-inflicted wound, not a solution.  Mr. Ramaphosa’s government knows that the enemy is not Africans, it the government’s failure to create jobs, health, education and housing. The enemy is poverty and frustration among the youth, which unfortunately has been weaponized against other Africans. The enemy is the Afrikaner economic structure that still controls the majority of the country’s wealth and arable lands.  That is where the real battle is, not against fellow Africans struggling to survive like everyone else.

These superficial outbursts blaming fellow Africans are not the solution. Their problems will not disappear overnight even if they expel all Africans. Nothing will change. The crisis is deeply structural, and is not a secrete, just that South African leadership do want to confront the reality. It is unfortunate that ordinary Africans continue fighting each other in markets, streets, townships, and neighborhoods while the deeper systems producing unemployment, corruption, inequality, and political manipulation remain firmly intact. That is the real crisis destroying Pan-Africanism from within. I am very sad about the festering situation.

Pan-Africanism betrayed

In my previous article I elaborated that South Africa’s glaring hatred for other Africans is undermining the revival of the Pan-African movement. Undoubtedly, South Africa is the biggest economy in Africa, which naturally makes it one of the leaders of Africa in terms of geopolitics and global affairs. But how can Africa unit when South is busily expelling other Africans? Many Africans are rightly disappointed in the failure of South Africa to pull Africa together. It is sad that our continental giant is losing its moral, political and economic authority to be the voice for Africa.

I recall in 2019 or so when Ghanaians were attacked, President Ramaphosa flew to Ghana to assure President Akufo-Addo that xenophobic attacks will not recure. He also came to Ghana to consult his elder brother, Akufo-Addo on how to solve the social, economic and pollical canker destroying South Africa and continental unity. Six or more years down the line, the situation is getting out of hand. President Ramaphosa appears to be sleeping on the job.

Expulsion history

Perhaps, South Africa needs to be guided by expulsion exchanges that occurred between Ghana and Nigeria. Nigeria implemented one of the most infamous expulsions in modern African history under President Shehu Shagari in 1983. On January 17, 1983, undocumented migrants were ordered to leave Nigeria within two weeks or face arrest and deportation. More than two million West African migrants were expelled. Over one million Ghanaians, were expelled, which earned the infamous accolade “Ghana Must Go”. The accolade emerged from the large, checkered bags which Ghanaians used to covey their goods.

Nigeria’s oil boom of the 1970s had attracted migrants from across West Africa, but when oil prices collapsed in the early 1980s, recession, inflation, and unemployment exploded. Naturally, migrants became political scapegoats. The government blamed foreigners for crime, instability, and economic pressure while politicians escaped the blame. Earlier in 1969, Ghana under Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia had implemented the Aliens Compliance Order, which expelled large numbers of undocumented Nigerians from Ghana. Thus, the Nigeria expulsion was a retaliatory measure against Ghana. Now Ghana and Nigeria understand the dangerous political outcomes and economic consequences of expulsion.

One commentator indicated that the same reality hangs over the neck of South Africa. What is happening today will be remembered tomorrow. Hostility toward fellow Africans leaves indelible scars that will remain forever. As the distrust between African populations hardens, retaliation, reciprocal treatment, and long-term bitterness we are gradually killing Pan-Africanism and Africa’s emanci

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