MTN chair says driving foreigners away won’t solve South Africa’s socioeconomic crises

CHAIRMAN of MTN Group, Mcebisi Jonas, has criticised the wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, warning that driving foreigners out of the country will not resolve its deep-rooted socioeconomic problems.

Jonas made the remarks while speaking at the funeral of Zimbabwean-born activist and public servant Thokozani Damasane, where he used the occasion to deliver a strong rebuke of growing anti-foreigner sentiment and called for renewed national consciousness.

“Foreigners can leave tomorrow – inequality will be with us,” Jonas told mourners.

He added: “Foreigners will leave tomorrow, yet unemployment will be with us. Foreigners will leave tomorrow – our police will remain corrupt. Foreigners will leave tomorrow – our politicians will still be concerned with one thing: being elected and re-elected.”

The MTN chairman argued that the persistent attacks on foreign nationals stem from failures of the South African state rather than the presence of immigrants. According to him, weak border management, ineffective immigration policies, poor law enforcement and shortcomings in education have created conditions that allow political actors to exploit public frustrations.

“The problem is the failure of the state,” he said.

“The state doesn’t manage immigration. It doesn’t manage its borders. It doesn’t enforce law enforcement. It doesn’t manage education. What are you expecting?

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“When people feel the burn, they become vulnerable to politicians whose sole purpose is to be elected and re-elected. Some of them have no credibility whatsoever. But they lead marches and tell our people that the problem is not us — it is foreigners.”

Jonas also stressed that South Africa’s prosperity is inseparable from the rest of the continent, insisting that the country’s economic future depends on Africa’s collective growth.

“And without Africa, our growth as a country – economically – our fortune is intertwined with the growth of Africa. South Africa is nothing without Africa,” he said.

“And Africa is nothing without South Africa.”

He called for a return to a national consciousness rooted in African solidarity and economic cooperation rather than ethnic exclusion, describing such an approach as essential to the country’s future.

His comments come amid renewed xenophobic tensions that have strained South Africa’s relations with several African countries. Attacks targeting immigrants, particularly nationals of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and other African states, have recurred since the end of apartheid, with major outbreaks recorded in 2008, 2015 and 2019.

In response to previous attacks, Nigeria and Ghana summoned South African envoys, while the Nigerian government is currently repatriating citizens willing to leave South Africa because of the latest violence.