Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has pushed back against growing anti-immigrant sentiment in South Africa, insisting that undocumented African migrants are not responsible for the country’s unemployment crisis.
Speaking at the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and AUDA-NEPAD Business Breakfast, he argued that many South Africans are directing their anger at the wrong targets while ignoring the real causes of the country’s economic challenges.
His comments come at a time of heightened concern over the safety of foreign nationals in South Africa. Nearly 300 Ghanaians returned home this week following waves of anti-immigrant protests that raised fears among migrant communities.
Addressing the issue directly, Mbeki acknowledged that South Africa faces serious challenges, including high unemployment and crime levels. However, he rejected suggestions that undocumented African migrants are to blame.
“We’ve got many problems here. The problem legitimately led to high levels of unemployment; that’s correct. High levels of crime, that’s correct. But the finger is being pointed at the wrong people.”
According to him, the roots of South Africa’s unemployment crisis lie elsewhere.
“The levels of high unemployment in this country are not due. They are not due to undocumented Africans. They are not.”
Mbeki said South Africa’s economic trajectory and declining growth rates were well documented and had nothing to do with immigration.
“We know the history in detail of how South Africa, from 1994 to 2008, achieved growth rates reach 6%. From 2009, it goes the opposite direction. It isn’t caused by undocumented immigrants.”
He argued that those responsible for the country’s economic decline have escaped scrutiny while migrants continue to be blamed.
“The people who cause that decline, they are laughing in a corner there, because we’re pointing not at them, but we’re pointing somewhere else. It’s wrong.”
Mbeki predicted that Africans from across the continent would continue coming to South Africa regardless of efforts to stop them.
“The Africans will continue to come to South Africa. It doesn’t matter what you do.”
He said South Africans must find practical ways to deal with migration rather than treating migrants as the source of the country’s problems.
“You are not going to solve the problem of unemployment here by shouting against undocumented Africans, and leaving the culprit.”
In one of the strongest moments of his address, Mbeki said the real causes of unemployment remain untouched while public anger is directed elsewhere.
“The culprits are sitting here. I can even tell you their names, but we’re pointing fingers at the wrong people.”
He urged South Africans to confront what he described as the truth rather than “fiction,” warning that many citizens are “busy chasing after ghosts” while ignoring the real issues affecting the economy.
Mbeki also reminded South Africans of the continent’s shared liberation history, arguing that Africans across the continent stood together during the anti-apartheid struggle.
“People are beating drums about the wrong people and failing to understand an organic connection between these Africans on the continent and these Africans here, because we’re together in the same struggle. You can’t certainly turn against them.”
