Former President Thabo Mbeki has issued a firm and sobering warning to South Africans, urging them to resist the growing temptation to scapegoat foreign nationals for the country’s persistent unemployment crisis and high crime rates. Speaking at a public dialogue on social cohesion in the Western Cape, Mbeki described the blame-shifting as “completely misguided,” arguing that it distracts from the structural failures and policy shortcomings that lie at the heart of the nation’s challenges.
Without mincing words, the former president stated that pointing fingers at immigrants from other African countries or elsewhere does nothing to create a single job or reduce a single act of criminality. He emphasized that unemployment in South Africa is driven by insufficient economic growth, skills mismatches, a stagnating manufacturing sector, and decades of unequal access to quality education—not by the presence of foreign shopkeepers or traders. On crime, Mbeki pointed to broken social fabrics, inadequate policing, and systemic poverty as the real drivers, rather than the nationalities of offenders.
Mbeki also cautioned against the rise of xenophobic rhetoric in community meetings and on social media, warning that such sentiments have historically led to violence, looting, and the erosion of South Africa’s moral standing as a leader in Pan-African solidarity. He called on government, civil society, and traditional leaders to launch public awareness campaigns that separate fact from fear. “Blaming the foreign national is a lie we tell ourselves to avoid doing the hard work of fixing our own house,” Mbeki concluded, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.
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