Xenophobia threatens African workers’ unity, NLC warns South African labour leaders

Xenophobia threatens African workers’ unity, NLC warns South African labour leaders

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has appealed to labour organisations in South Africa to take a firm stand against the increasing xenophobic attacks directed at Nigerians and other African migrants, warning that the violence poses a serious danger to solidarity among African workers.

In a letter sent to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the NLC strongly criticised the killings, harassment, and destruction of businesses owned by migrants. The union urged South African authorities to ensure those behind the attacks are prosecuted and to improve security for vulnerable communities.

The correspondence, signed by NLC President Joe Ajaero, described the situation as a challenge that extends beyond South Africa and affects the broader African working class.

The NLC said it was “watching with horror as the ghosts of nativism and xenophobia once again stalk the streets of South Africa,” stressing that African migrants were being attacked “not for any crime, but for the sin of being African in Africa.”

“We are compelled by the blood of our fellow black workers; Zimbabwean, Malawian, Mozambican, Somali, Nigerian, and others; who are being murdered,” the Congress stated.

The labour body also decried the destruction of properties and businesses established over the years by migrants living in South Africa.

“We are appalled at the destruction of livelihoods of Africans built through years of sweat and blood in the streets of South African towns,” the NLC said.

According to the union, the tensions fuelling xenophobic violence are linked to rising unemployment, inequality, poor housing conditions, and economic hardship across the continent.

“The crisis of unemployment, housing, and social services in South Africa is real,” the letter noted, adding however that “the response of the ruling class has always been to turn the oppressed against each other.”

“Our common enemy is not the migrant worker hawking goods in Soweto or mining in Rustenburg. Our common enemy is neoliberalism, capitalism’s most vicious mask,” the NLC declared.

The Congress urged COSATU to publicly denounce the attacks and rally workers across South Africa against xenophobia in workplaces and communities.

“We therefore call upon you, our sister labour centre, to lend your powerful voice without equivocation and condemn these xenophobic attacks in the strongest terms,” the letter read.

The NLC further faulted South African security agencies for what it described as a weak response to the violence.

“The passivity of the security forces in the face of these attacks amounts to complicity,” it said, demanding “the full deployment of state resources to protect migrant workers and their property.”

It also called for speedy prosecution of those involved in the attacks as well as compensation for victims and bereaved families.

“Perpetrators must be swiftly prosecuted, and families who have lost their loved ones, as well as workers who have lost their livelihoods, must be compensated by the state,” it added.

Reflecting on Nigeria’s historical support for the anti-apartheid struggle, the NLC said African labour unions have always been rooted in unity and shared struggles.

“We cannot claim to fight for the working class while allowing a section of that class to be hunted like wild animals,” the Congress warned.

The labour organisation also advocated a coordinated continental response through the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU).

“Xenophobia is a cancer that if not excised in South Africa will metastasize across the continent,” the Congress warned.

“There is no emancipation without solidarity. There is no liberation without the liberation of all African workers, regardless of passport,” the NLC stated.