Anti-Afrophobia policy shortfall and dilemma in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and South Africa

Abstract

Since 1994, South Africa witnessed various xenophobic attacks, the two recent ones leaving over 60 Africans dead in 2008 and 17 in 2015. Xenophobia is an embarrassment to the new South African Government, which is considered the leader of African unity, democracy, good governance and development by some governments in the world. South African and African political leaders have remained indifferent and they have not as yet developed and implemented policies and strategies to address the massacre of Africans in their own continent, hampering prospects of realising the promise of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). This article emphasises a public administration perspective on managing and preventing xenophobia through national and pan-African policies and strategies. It uses migration theory to review South Africa’s migration and anti-xenophobia policies and strategies. Through literature review and interviews with the NEPAD Agency, the silence of the continental initiative on xenophobia was confirmed, prompting the need to review the European Union (EU) best practice. The article acknowledges the importance of existing anti-xenophobia strategies in South Africa and advocates for their revival. It also proposes the development of a pan-African framework and structure to deal with racism and xenophobia at the NEPAD continental level.