Ending Africa’s Shadow Economy of Labor: From Xenophobic Violence to Fair Work
South Africa’s latest wave of xenophobic violence is not merely a domestic crisis; it is a Pan‑African warning about the dangers of governing labor migration through opacity, improvisation, and greed. For a continent betting its future on regional integration and free movement, the scenes from Durban, Johannesburg and coastal towns show what happens when millions of African workers move across borders without the protection of transparent systems and lawful marketplaces When Africa turns on its own workers In recent weeks, anti‑migrant protests led by movements such as “March and March” have set an unofficial June 30 deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa, with threats summarised brutally as “leave or return in a coffin.” These protests, often attended by thousands, have coincided with attacks on foreign‑owned businesses, looting of shops, and assaults on homes belonging to migrants from Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana and other African states. In Mosse...