Business leader Mcebisi Jonas warns that anti-foreigner sentiment masks deeper failures of state corruption, inequality, and political exploitation
In an extraordinary and unflinching address that cut through the noise of South Africa’s immigration debate, MTN Group Chairman Mcebisi Jonas declared that the country’s economic destiny is inseparable from the continent it belongs to and that scapegoating foreigners won’t fix a broken system.
“If foreigners leave tomorrow, inequality will remain. Unemployment will remain. Police corruption will remain. And politicians will still care only about being elected and re-elected,” Jonas told mourners at the funeral of Thokozani Damasane, a Zimbabwean-born activist and public servant who made South Africa his home.
The former Deputy Minister of Finance, now one of Africa’s most influential corporate leaders, delivered what observers are calling one of the most direct interventions by a major business figure on the country’s immigration crisis a speech that laid bare the political cynicism driving xenophobic violence.
A Crisis of the State, Not of Foreigners
Jonas placed responsibility squarely on government failures, arguing that porous borders, corrupt law enforcement, and crumbling education systems have created a fertile ground for political manipulation.
“When people feel the burn of state failure, they become vulnerable to politicians whose sole purpose is to be elected. Some have no credibility whatsoever but they lead marches and tell our people that the problem is not us, it is foreigners,” he said.
Colonial Wounds That Won’t Heal
In a sharp historical critique, Jonas traced xenophobia to colonial-era ethnic divisions, warning that liberation movements have perpetuated tribalism for political gain.
“Zulu and Xhosa we sustain this thing as if it is real. It is in our heads. Identity politics and ethno-nationalism must be banished,” he declared, condemning how colonial logic has mutated into the engine of contemporary violence.
A Warning Foreseen
Recalling a conversation where Damasane once warned a young South African that they too might one day want to leave their country, Jonas noted the tragic prescience of those words.
“The level of oppression and inequality, the level of exclusion, corruption, the betrayal of the dream of liberation those words ring very loud in my ears today,” he said.
Economic Realities of a Connected Continent
“We are a nation embedded in Africa,” Jonas concluded. “Without Africa, our economic fortune is intertwined with the continent’s growth. South Africa is nothing without Africa and Africa is nothing without South Africa.”
He ended with a simple, powerful plea: “We cannot judge people by their origin. We cannot determine legal status by origin.”
