Falola: Stop Calling It Xenophobia, South Africa’s Anti African Hostility Is Afrophobia

Prof. Toyin Falola, has challenged Africans to rethink the language used to describe attacks against African migrants in South Africa, arguing that the phenomenon should more accurately be understood through the concept of Afrophobia.

Falola made the intervention during the 47th edition of the Boiling Point Arena, a monthly current affairs and intellectual discourse platform, which held on Sunday, September 13, 2026.

The programme, themed “The Africa We Want: Can the Continent Break Free from the Cycle of Underdevelopment?”, brought the historian into an extensive conversation about Africa’s development crisis, political leadership, education, economic dependency, institutional weakness and the future of Pan Africanism.

The discourse was hosted by communication strategy expert, Dr Ayo Arowojolu, while the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Prof. Saka Matemilola, chaired the programme and delivered the opening keynote.

The two-hour conversation was transmitted via Zoom and broadcast live through seven partner radio stations across Lagos, Ogun and Delta States.

But beyond the broader question of Africa’s development, Falola’s intervention on hostility towards African migrants carries particular significance at a time when South Africa has witnessed renewed tensions involving Nigerians and other African nationals.

“Call It Afrophobia”

Falola argued that the continued description of attacks against African migrants simply as xenophobia may fail to capture an important dimension of the problem.

According to the historian, when Africans are specifically targeted by other Africans because of their nationality, identity or perceived foreignness, the phenomenon deserves to be examined as Afrophobia.

The distinction is important.

Xenophobia broadly refers to hostility towards foreigners.

Afrophobia, however, draws attention to hostility directed specifically towards Africans.

Falola’s position is not entirely new. In a recent essay on Afrophobia and continental brotherhood, he examined the history of attacks against African migrants in South Africa and specifically referenced Nigerian businesses being burnt, Zimbabwean workers being attacked and Somali businessmen being forced out of communities.

His argument therefore goes beyond semantics.

It raises a fundamental question about the meaning of African brotherhood and the future of Pan Africanism.

From 2008 to the Present

South Africa has experienced repeated episodes of violence and hostility against African migrants.

The most notorious wave occurred in 2008, when attacks against foreign nationals spread through several communities, resulting in deaths, injuries, destruction of property and the displacement of thousands.

Similar violence returned in 2015 and subsequent years.

Falola noted that these episodes are particularly troubling because several African countries supported the struggle against apartheid, while South Africa’s liberation was widely regarded as a continental achievement.

In his recent reflection, he recalled how countries including Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique supported the anti-apartheid struggle before South Africa achieved democratic rule in 1994.

He therefore questioned the contradiction between the Pan African ideal of continental solidarity and the treatment sometimes experienced by Africans seeking employment and business opportunities elsewhere on the continent.

Nigerians Caught in the Crisis

Nigerians have been particularly visible among the African communities affected by the renewed tensions in South Africa.

The Nigerian government has evacuated 1,490 Nigerians from South Africa through a series of voluntary humanitarian flights following security concerns associated with attacks against foreign nationals.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier announced that the evacuation was being undertaken because of xenophobic attacks and that the government would fully fund the initial evacuation exercise.

The situation has also produced diplomatic consequences.

Recent reports indicate that at least 98 Nigerians have died in South Africa since 2022 in mob, hate related and extrajudicial incidents, according to Nigerian officials. Two additional Nigerian deaths were reported in September 2026 amid renewed anti migrant tensions.

The Nigerian Parliament has consequently suspended official parliamentary engagements with South Africa over concerns about anti migrant violence.

Repatriation and Deportation

The situation has also coincided with a significant South African government operation targeting undocumented foreign nationals.

In June, South Africa confirmed that 586 Nigerian nationals had been processed for repatriation after authorities determined that they were residing in the country illegally.

The first flight carried 268 people, while the affected Nigerians were issued emergency travel documents and declared undesirable for five years under the country’s immigration law.

South African authorities have stressed that immigration enforcement should not be confused with attacks against foreigners.

The South African government has maintained that undocumented migration is a matter of immigration law and that deportations and repatriations must be conducted lawfully.

By August 3, South African authorities reported that 77,184 undocumented foreign nationals had been repatriated, while 18,816 people had been formally deported between April and July.

The government has also insisted that it will not tolerate vigilantism, violence or intimidation against foreign communities.

Where the Controversy Lies

This is where the distinction between xenophobia and Afrophobia becomes particularly important.

A country has the sovereign right to enforce its immigration laws.

It can deport a foreign national who has violated immigration requirements.

But immigration enforcement cannot legitimately become a justification for mob violence, destruction of property, intimidation or discrimination against people because they are Africans from another country.

South African authorities have themselves repeatedly condemned violence against foreign nationals and have maintained that immigration enforcement must remain lawful.

The Nigerian government has likewise distinguished legitimate immigration procedures from attacks and harassment against Nigerians.

The challenge therefore lies in ensuring that the enforcement of immigration laws does not become mixed with popular narratives that portray African migrants as the cause of unemployment, crime or economic hardship.

The Deeper African Question

For Falola, the issue is ultimately larger than South Africa.

It is about the future of African solidarity.

If Africans cannot tolerate fellow Africans crossing national borders in search of employment, education, trade or opportunity, then the continent’s Pan African aspirations remain incomplete.

Falola’s recent analysis argues that Africa’s colonial borders created national identities that often compete with the broader idea of continental solidarity. He also points to economic hardship, unemployment, scarce resources and political narratives that can turn migrants into convenient scapegoats.

That argument deserves serious attention.

Africa cannot simultaneously advocate continental integration while treating African migrants as outsiders who have no legitimate place within the continent.

The African Continental Free Trade Area and other continental integration efforts will have limited meaning if ordinary Africans continue to encounter hostility when they cross national borders.

Beyond the Label

The debate over whether to call the phenomenon xenophobia or Afrophobia should therefore not become merely an argument about terminology.

The more important question is what the terminology reveals.

Xenophobia identifies hostility towards foreigners.

Afrophobia highlights the specific African character of much of the hostility directed towards African migrants.

Both concepts may help explain different dimensions of the problem.

But if the victims are overwhelmingly Africans, then Afrophobia forces the continent to confront a painful contradiction.

Africans fought colonialism partly to reclaim dignity, freedom and self-determination.

It would therefore be tragic if Africans themselves reproduced systems of exclusion that deny dignity and protection to fellow Africans.

ValidViewNetwork reports that Prof. Toyin Falola’s intervention comes at a critical moment for Africa.

The continent cannot build meaningful unity while treating fellow Africans as permanent strangers.

South Africa has every right to enforce its immigration laws.

Nigeria has every right to demand protection for its citizens.

Other African governments have the same responsibility towards their nationals.

But no immigration policy should provide cover for violence, intimidation, destruction of businesses or collective punishment.

The ultimate solution may therefore require more than changing the word used to describe the problem.

Africa must confront the economic insecurity, unemployment, weak institutions, political manipulation and social tensions that create fertile ground for hostility towards migrants.

Most importantly, Africans must decide whether Pan Africanism is merely a historical slogan or a living commitment.

If Africa genuinely wants the Africa that its founding leaders imagined, then an African should not become an enemy simply because he crossed an African border.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the real challenge is therefore not merely to stop xenophobia or Afrophobia, but to build an Africa where African solidarity becomes a lived reality rather than an occasional political declaration.