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May 28

IT’S NOT XENOPHOBIA, IT’S NO LEADERSHIP — A MOZAMBICAN PERSPECTIVE _By Solomon Mondlane Swati Newsweek 08 May, 2026 I am writing as a Mozambican who has lived, studied, and worked in three countries: Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa. I did both my primary and secondary education in Swaziland as a foreigner from Mozambique. Because of that lived experience, I reject the easy label that South Africans are xenophobic. _When leadership is absent, people step in — and it turns chaotic_ What we see in South Africa today is not xenophobia. It is what happens in any country when there is a vacuum of leadership. When the state fails to secure borders, regulate immigration, police crime, and communicate clearly, ordinary citizens step in to “solve” the problem themselves. The result is almost always disorder, violence, and scapegoating. That is failed governance, not national hatred. _If South Africa is xenophobic, then the whole of Africa is_ I know this because I lived it in Swaziland as a young Mozambican. We were subjected to ugly name-calling. Once every month, law enforcement targeted undocumented Mozambicans for harassment. People were forcefully removed from their rented apartments, loaded into police trucks like firewood, and deported. Some Mozambicans were recruited to work in sugarcane fields by citizens. At the end of the month, those same employers would call law enforcement. The workers were arrested and deported without their salaries. Refugee camps were created for both South Africans and Mozambicans, but in separate communities. The state decided who belonged where. But because Swazis were doing it, nobody called it xenophobia. There were no global headlines about “Swazi xenophobia.” It was treated as immigration enforcement. _Mozambique is doing the same_ In Mozambique, foreigners coming to visit are subjected to roadblocks — or what President Venâncio Mondlane once described as “slavery toll gates.” Law enforcement demands bribes everywhere a foreigner goes within the country. By the time they arrive at their destination, they are left with nothing. Those who settle in Mozambique face another trap. They are invited into business partnerships, and when they have invested, they are insulted, falsely accused — mainly as terrorists — by citizens, and then deported. What do you call that? Just because it is done by Mozambicans, is it not xenophobia? _The double standard_ The difference is not the behavior. The difference is South Africa’s size, media visibility, and economic pull. Millions migrate to South Africa because it works better than home. When tensions flare there, cameras are present. When the same, or worse, happens in smaller states, the world stays silent. _South Africa needs leadership, not labels_ South Africans need to be engaged by their government. That means the government should start leading from outside the walls of Parliament. Secure the borders. Deal with illegal immigration like other African countries are doing. It is their sovereign right. In reality, South Africa has been the most lenient country on the continent. It has absorbed millions. What we are witnessing now is not hatred of foreigners. It is the outcome of years without clear policy, without enforcement, and without honest conversations with citizens. Call it what it is: a lack of leadership. When the state abandons its job, the street takes over. And the street has no training, no law, and no accountability. If we are honest, the same behavior we condemn in South Africa exists across Africa. The cure is not shaming South Africans. The cure is leadership — in Pretoria, in Maputo, in Mbabane, and across the AU. _Solomon Mondlane_ is a former Secretary for CAD foreign relations desk and former Mozambique correspondent for Eswatini's largest online newspaper the (Swati Newsweek)_, _Swazi Voice_, and _Swaziland Democratic News_. He is a current member of ANAMOLA and lives in Matola, Mozambique.

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