AGENDA 2063 PRACTICE: ADDRESSING XENOPHOBIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The African Union (AU) set an agenda for itself in 2013 with a central goal on peace, security, unity and development on the continent. This overarching goal seems to be lost to the designers of the Agenda 2063 given the xenophobic attacks taking place in South Africa currently. A scholar on leadership by the name John Maxwell intimates that everything falls and rises on leadership, hence African leaders through AU and SADC should quash what is happening in South Africa. It is the intent of this opinion piece to argue that while Agenda 2063 is potentially the elixir to Africa’s social, political and economic challenges, it will remain a pie in the sky for the everyday Africans whose livelihoods have been caught up in structural challenges leading to migration within and outside of Africa in anticipation of better lives because of xenophobic tendencies that are evidential in some African countries like South Africa. Why does xenophobia in South Africa specifically undermine Agenda 2063’s unity pillar?South Africa does not exist in a social vacuum. There is no such thing as absolute independence; it is a mirage. Independence is a function and a byproduct of coloniality that seeks out to create fissures between and among Africans. Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia are neighbours of South Africa by history and geography. They all belong to SADC and AU, and what happens in these countries economically, politically and socially should be defined in terms of interdependence. These countries already have bilateral and multilateral relations based on comparative advantages. All these countries share a common history of colonialism and that history is a history that created opportunities for the colonisers to amass ancient wealth that created the Bretton Woods like the IMF and World bank that have facilitated the capture of Africa through debt colonialism and liberalism. Debt colonialism and liberalism have been the wheels in the colonial machine and have been used to set up Africans against one another. The 1884 Berlin Conference formalised the partition of Africa imposing artificial boundaries that compartmentalised the continent according to the expansionist interests of colonial powers. South Africa is itself a product of this partitioning. Therefore, when South Africans direct xenophobic violence towards other Africans, they are reproducing colonial logics of division rather advancing the pan-African unity envisioned in Agenda 2063. Between 2024 and 2026, Xenowatch recorded 59 documented xenophobic incidents in 2024 displacing 2,946 people, and 151 incidents alone in 2025. By May 2026, at least Ethiopian nationals and other African migrants were reported killed in a fresh wave of attacks. When South Africans attack and pooh-pooh foreigners who are victims of structural challenges of coloniality, they miss the point. Liberalism is at the heart of the conduct of South Africans, because it is liberalism that persuades them to think that they stand out as an independent and self-sufficient country. Liberalism is not African but European. It is a philosophy that has decimated the African philosphy of ubuntu. Ubuntu, romantices and essentialises the communal self. Africa from the yore has had an indelible characteristic feauture of collectivism. The values that have made Africa to be unique have been those values of majoritarianism. The moral economy of Africa is what liberalism has come to attack with concepts of individualism. Individualism is the thinking that individual liberties are more important than the values of groups. Africa’s fingerprint of the care economy came under attack with the advent of colonialism and this writer can safely argue that with what is happening in South Africa, colonialism is not over, but is all over now like a spirit. The logic of liberalism here treats South Africa as an isolated country whose liberty must be decoupled from the struggles of fellow African states. This attitude of independence which is born of colonial legacy is fuelling acts of xenophobia in the country. Fellow Africans are targetted even as Europeans, Asians and Americans who may lack the requisite documents are not treated the same way. This double standard shows how the colonial mindset still holds South Africans in its grip. It is important that the school system in South Africa should infuse into its curriculum a cross -cutting subject on understanding diversity and inclusivity with the success goal of moulding men and women of competence, compassion, commitment and conscience. This world will not be a safe place if, as humanity, we fail to appreciate and embrace the fact that no one owns any title deeds to it and that we should approach it with a stewardship mentality. The AU and SADC should be seen making the necessary decisive diplomatic steps to end the ill-treatment of fellow Africans in South Africa. Over 4 million foreign nationals live in South Africa, with Zimbabweans and Malawians making up a significant share of the SADC migrant workforce, hence the need for these continental supranational bodies to act accordingly to sustain their livelihoods. These acts of xenophobia in South Africa are happening during a harsh cold season. Human dignity is not determined by time, geography or borders and human rights are not reserved for South Africans alone- they are universal. Amongst those being deported in these winter conditions are children, who require protection from adults and governments. South Africa is a signatory state to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, yet we are witnessing children being exposed to the cold in the midst of this growing hostility. Agenda 2063 should not remain a slogan. It must be made real through actions that lift Africans out of poverty and protect their dignity. As supranational bodies, AU and SADC have a responsibility to intervene in what is happening in South Africa. Where there are flagrant human rights violations, appeals to sovereignty cease to be sustainable. Ultimately, political, social and economic circumstances are never static. A country that is stable today can face crises tomorrow, just as one that is struggling now may recover later. For instance, South Africa’s unemployement rate in 2025 sat at 32.7% while Malawi’s GDP growth was projected at 3.2% for 2025, outpacing SA’s 1.8. Malawi’s current challenges and South Africa’s potential future decline show how quickly circumstances reverse. Recognising this shared vulnerability should push African nations beyond rivalry or indifference toward solidarity. In the end, the idea of being one another’s keeper is not just moral, it is practical : collective support today builds resilience every African country may need when fortunes change. By Dr. Aribino N- Country Director of ZIMCARE TRUST and former Vice Chair of Chikurubi Special Prisons Board. Writing in own personal capacity.