Toothless dog? Uproar over AU's silence as tension rises in SA
Africa
By
Jacinta Mutura
| Jul 02, 2026
Migrants line up near a bus at the Durban Drive In in Durban, on June 29, 2026 preparing to leave before the camp shuts down. [AFP]
There’s a growing concern from experts over the inaction and silence by the African Union on the escalating anti-immigrant mobilisation in South Africa.
Groups of South Africans have been protesting to push undocumented migrants to leave the country by June 30 raising concerns over Kenyans still stuck in the country.
On Wednesday, about 84 Kenyans had already jetted back from SA with the Diaspora Affairs Principal Secretary Roseline Njogu stating that more Kenyans in South Africa have sent requests to the Embassy to be repatriated. But as the anti-immigrants campaign escalates, Fatuma Mohamed, an expert on International Relations matters and Dr Kenneth Ombongi, a historian and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, sounded the alarm on what they described as a crisis that threatens to unravel African unity.
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“The African Union should intervene in this case because it has adopted a policy on free African movement and free trade within the African continent. When we see South Africans demonstrating against African foreigners, it is something that is concerning,” said Mohamed.
Mohamed argued that the AU has been championing for continental integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) but has turned a blind eye to a member state actively chasing away fellow Africans. “We cannot advocate for integration and trade within the continent, and at the same time a fellow African continent is chasing African communities. These things of Africa pushing Africa is something we need to think about as a continent,” Mohamed added.
She warned that South Africa’s actions could trigger a dangerous domino effect. “It is likely to have a ripple effect in terms of other countries also coming out to say that other nations who are there in their countries, regularly or irregularly, should also leave. In Kenya for example, South Africans own leading companies,” she argued.
She pointed to South African corporate dominance in Kenya in sectors such as insurance, mining and retail chains, a leverage she said could be turned against South Africans if retaliation becomes the order of the day. “But we don’t want to reach a stage where we become enemies to each other. We are one brothers. We are one community. We are black. We are Africans,” she added.
On his part, Dr Ombongi argued that anti-foreigner violence is manufactured, adding that the weaponization of migration is a familiar pattern ahead of elections. Ombongi stated that pushing out Mozambicans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Malawians, Kenyans and other Africans will create an impact on the rest of the continent.
“The intolerance that we see in different countries in Africa is an intolerance that is linked to elections most of the time. Even the situation in South Africa is actually more or less the same.”
“South Africa is just about to go to elections, and the political leaders who have not done much in terms of giving access to opportunities to the youth, giving full access to opportunities in education, training and in equipping the South African youth find a scapegoat in the so-called immigrants,” Ombongi argued.