African hustlers did not create this xenophobia. It's Africa's failures

Kenyans repatriated from South Africa arrive at JKIA on July 2, 2026. [David Gichuru, Standard]

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28.

With a median age of just 19.7 years, Africa is a continent full of energy, restless and untapped potential, yet this demographic has been weaponised into xenophobia. This war should be a war of skills and digital infrastructure to employ one-third of the global workforce by 2050.

In May 2026, armed vigilante groups marched through Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town with one instruction. Foreigners must leave by June 30. No court order. But in a country where unemployment sits above 33 per cent and youth unemployment exceeds 60.2 percent, anger moves faster than policy.

Five Ethiopian migrants were shot dead in Johannesburg, three inside a McDonald's. More than 3,000 Malawians, including hundreds of children sheltered in an open field in Durban. Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe mounted emergency evacuations.

The Kenyan High Commission in Pretoria issued an urgent notice asking South African authorities for safe passage for Kenyans trying to reach their embassy. Twenty-seven thousand Kenyans. A notice and a safe passage from a neighbouring African country.

At the same time, the same week, Kenya's President was at the G7 in Évian as Africa's only leader at the world's most powerful table. Africa cannot hold both realities and pretend only one is true.

This week's signal

This war has two fronts, and both are wrong, though the South Africa crisis is not unique. In Nairobi, local leaders have raised serious complaints about Burundians, Rwandans, Congolese, and Tanzanians taking over market stalls, boda boda routes, salons, and small businesses Kenyans once occupied.

The frustration is real. Youth unemployment in Kenya stands at 67 per cent. A million young Kenyans enter the job market every year. Only 100,000 find formal employment.

But here is the argument that must be made to both sides simultaneously. To every African who has moved to another country to hustle: you carry a responsibility to respect the host economy, obey local laws, register formally, pay taxes, and integrate with dignity. Freedom of movement is not a license to exploit open borders. It is an opportunity that must be earned through conduct.

To every African raising a hand against a fellow African hustler: stop! The person you are attacking is not your enemy. They left their country for the same reason you are angry. Their government did not build enough. Neither did yours. The correct target is not the Burundian in the next stall or the Congolese trader across the road. It is the leadership that left both of you competing for the same insufficient space.

What it means for business

Every foreign-owned business looted in South Africa represents supply chains broken and relationships that take years to rebuild. South Africa has paid this cost in 2008, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2026. The economy limps between cycles.

The AfCFTA was designed to create a single African market of 1.4 billion people. Every Malawian entrepreneur expelled from Durban and every Congolese trader pushed from Nairobi is a vote against that market. The businesses defining Africa's next 20 years are not defending turf. They are building regional supply chains across borders. That is foresight leadership.

What it means for policy

South Africa's Ramaphosa announced deportation courts, biometric registration, and jail for employers hiring undocumented workers. These address the symptom. The root is an economy too small to absorb its own people. Kenya must respond to its domestic tension with equal honesty.

A clear framework regulating work permits in informal sectors, protecting Kenyan workers, and demanding that foreign nationals operating here do so formally and legally. Integration requires accountability from both directions. Host nations must protect their citizens. Migrants must respect their hosts.

What it means for people

A Kenyan family in Durban sleeps on a street this week. A bodaboda rider in Kenya is angry about a Burundian competitor. Kenya's President is at the G7 arguing Africa deserves more from the world. All three are true simultaneously.

Africans must hold their leaders accountable for the unemployment that forces migration. African migrants must hold themselves accountable for how they behave in countries that receive them.

Afterthought

For 16 weeks, this column has argued that Africa must invoice the world for its minerals, labour, purchasing power, and geography. Every argument stands. But the invoice loses moral authority the moment Africans attack each other.

Stop fighting your fellow African hustler. Hold your leaders accountable instead. And if you are the African who moved, respect the country that gave you space. Africa cannot invoice the world while it is attacking itself.

“Decisions are made on the radar screen, but the future is yours”.

-The writer is a human-centred strategist and leadership columnist.