Racist Violence and the Delicate Point of Chaos

The streets of Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Durban have become all too familiar with the grim sight of Nigerian blood being spilled, a routine that has become disturbingly commonplace.

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In May 2026, however, the response to these violent incidents took a significant turn, as Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North in Nigeria's National Assembly, voiced the sentiments of many Africans, saying "When we have this balance of madness, I believe there'll be sanity", marking a potential shift in Nigeria's foreign policy towards South Africa.

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Oshiomhole's words were not merely provocative, but rather a call to action, articulating a harder-edged diplomatic posture that may be Nigeria's most significant foreign policy shift towards South Africa since the end of apartheid.

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The era of simply mourning citizens who suffer abroad is giving way to one of mutual respect enforced by consequences, a shift that is long overdue, given the long record of violence Nigerians have faced in South Africa.

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In August 2000, xenophobic attacks on the Cape Flats left seven Africans dead, including two Nigerians, setting a disturbing precedent for the violence that would follow.

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In 2008, riots in Johannesburg turned the city into a "war zone", killing at least 62 people and displacing some 6,000, while in April 2015, attacks on Nigerian-owned property caused an estimated N21m in damage.

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In 2016, roughly 20 Nigerians were reported killed, including Tochukwu Nnamdi, who was allegedly shot extrajudicially by police, highlighting the brutality of the violence.

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On February 18, 2017, Nigerians in Pretoria West watched as five buildings, a garage with 28 cars, and a church were looted and burned, in a shocking display of violence and destruction.

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In September 2019, coordinated attacks across Johannesburg and Pretoria again singled out Nigerian-owned businesses, with a report to Nigeria's House of Representatives noting that 116 Nigerians had been killed in South Africa in the previous two years.

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From 1999 to 2018, an estimated 118 Nigerians lost their lives to xenophobic violence, a staggering figure that represents families torn apart and lives forever changed.

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A 2018 Pew Research Centre poll found that 62 per cent of South Africans viewed immigrants as burdens and linked them to crime, a disturbing attitude that contributes to the violence.

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The attacks have continued, with the Nigerian Union South Africa reporting extensive property damage and seizures at the Navy House, Fatima Building, in Pretoria Central in January 2025, following a joint operation by South African authorities.

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In late April 2026, another wave of xenophobic violence hit major cities, leaving at least two Nigerians dead: Nnaemeka Matthew Andrew Ekpeyong, who died in police custody, and Kelvin Chidiebere Amaramiro, who died from injuries allegedly inflicted by South African National Defense Force personnel.

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Local media reported that, in total, five Ethiopians and two Nigerians were killed, highlighting the widespread nature of the violence.

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Unlike Ghana's 1969 state-led expulsions under the Alien Compliance Order, South Africa's xenophobic attacks are largely driven by ordinary citizens, making them more chaotic and harder to control.

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Economic desperation, political opportunism, and social frustration all play a role in the violence, with South Africa's unemployment rate of 32.1 per cent in 2025, and youth unemployment above 60 per cent, creating an environment in which migrants are easily cast as competitors for scarce jobs and services.

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Some South African leaders have inflamed these resentments, with the late Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini telling immigrants to "pack their belongings" in 2015, and his son, King Misuzulu Zwelithini, later using the slur "kwerekwere" for African migrants and calling for their removal.

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Groups such as Operation Dudula and March on March have grown rapidly in this climate, while some leaders, like opposition figure Julius Malema, have pushed back against the idea that immigrants are to blame for the country's problems.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly insisted that "South Africa is not xenophobic" and that "South Africans are not xenophobic", but these assurances ring hollow in the absence of firm enforcement and accountability.

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Senator Adams Oshiomhole used a Senate debate on xenophobic attacks to advance a new diplomatic doctrine, saying "I don't want this Senate to be shedding tears or sympathizing with those who have died, we didn't come here to shed tears, if you hit me, I'll hit you, that's appropriate in diplomacy, it's an economic struggle".

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Oshiomhole urged Nigeria to revoke the operating licences of major South African firms, including MTN Group and MultiChoice, pointing out that MTN repatriates significant profits from Nigeria, while Nigerians continue to die on South African soil.

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Critics noted that MTN Nigeria is partly owned by Nigerian pension funds and retail investors, and that sudden nationalisation or licence revocation could spark costly arbitration and scare off foreign capital, highlighting the complexities of the issue.

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Yet focusing only on balance sheets is to miss Oshiomhole's larger point, that for nearly three decades, conventional diplomacy has yielded little, and that South Africa has faced no serious penalty for repeated outbreaks of xenophobic violence.

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Oshiomhole argued that states respond to costs, not condolences, and that only when inaction carries real economic and political consequences will authorities find the will to act decisively against vigilantes.

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The Senate ultimately stopped short of Oshiomhole's most drastic proposals, but the fact that such punitive steps were seriously debated is significant, and marks a shift in Nigeria's approach to the issue.

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Senate President Godswill Akpabio emphasised diplomacy while leaving the door open to tougher measures, and Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu summoned South Africa's High Commissioner to protest the treatment of Nigerian citizens.

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The government has demanded thorough investigations into the deaths of Ekpeyong and Amaramiro, access to autopsy reports, and accountability for those responsible, and at least 130 Nigerians in South Africa have registered for evacuation.

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Xenophobia in South Africa is deeply entrenched and will require systemic reforms, including fairer enforcement of immigration law, constraints on abusive security forces, and better economic opportunities across the continent to reduce irregular migration.

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Nigeria must show that the price of South African inaction will exceed the political cost of intervention, and that may mean targeted economic measures, trade adjustments, tighter visa reciprocity, or a comprehensive review of bilateral agreements.

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The clear message should be that African hospitality is not unconditional, and that Nigeria will no longer accept the routine killing of its citizens on South African streets.

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Some critics label Oshiomhole's stance "anti-African" or a betrayal of pan-Africanism, but this turns the idea of African solidarity on its head, as the young Nigerians killed in Pretoria are as African as their attackers.

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Genuine Pan-Africanism does not require one side to endure endless abuse in silence, and the African Union's Agenda 2063 envisions a unified, prosperous, and peaceful continent, a vision that crumbles whenever Africans deny other Africans basic safety and dignity.

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Xenophobic violence is not just a human rights violation, but a repudiation of the solidarity that fueled Africa's liberation struggles, and as the Catholic bishops of Africa have warned, "Any violence directed against foreigners constitutes not only a grave violation of the human person but also a negation of the foundations of universal brotherhood and the Africa we want".

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Oshiomhole has helped shift Nigeria, and potentially Africa, towards a diplomacy of consequences rather than a diplomacy of condolences, and his phrase "balance of madness" is unsettling by design, as it highlights the need for a carefully calibrated response to the violence.

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The violence Nigerians face in South Africa is itself a form of collective madness, a social breakdown in which marginalised communities strike at vulnerable neighbors instead of the structures that impoverish them.

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A carefully calibrated "balance of madness" does not mean abandoning ethics or embracing barbarism, but rather using leverage, including economic pressure, to restore a minimum standard of safety.

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Nigeria's leaders increasingly recognise that moral appeals alone are insufficient, and with a population of above 200 million and Africa's largest economy, the country cannot accept repeated humiliation without response.

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Senator Victor Umeh captured this sentiment when he described the status quo as a betrayal of shared history, and Nigeria's new posture extends beyond parliament, with the government taking a firmer stance on the issue.

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The road ahead carries risks, with economic retaliation having costs, and diplomatic tensions potentially flaring, but the alternative, ongoing suffering, impunity, and the routine killing of Nigerians on South African streets, is no longer acceptable.

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More legislators should speak with Oshiomhole's clarity, and African states should coordinate their responses, making clear that regional unity depends on mutual respect and safety.

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The African Union must move from statements to binding protocols on xenophobic violence, backed by meaningful penalties for states that fail to protect foreign nationals, and the era of unchecked xenophobia has lasted too long.

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It is time for a "balance of madness" that compels a return to reason, and Nigeria must lead the way, using its economic and diplomatic