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From Bimbola Oyesola,
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a passionate call to the c to take urgent action against rising xenophobic violence in South Africa, warning that attacks on migrant African workers threaten the unity and future of the continent’s working class.
In a strongly worded letter dated May 7, 2026, the NLC described the attacks as “a reactionary fever” fuelled by economic hardship, unemployment, and failed neoliberal policies that have turned poor Africans against one another instead of confronting the systems responsible for inequality and suffering.
“We write to you today with the urgent alarm of a fellow labour centre that is watching with horror as the ghosts of nativism and xenophobia once again stalk the streets of South Africa,” the NLC leadership declared in the letter addressed to the COSATU President in Johannesburg.
The Nigerian labour movement said it was deeply disturbed by reports of killings, assaults, and destruction of businesses belonging to migrants from countries including Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, and Nigeria. According to the union, many victims were targeted “not for any crime, but for the sin of being African in Africa.”
The letter stressed that the economic frustrations faced by ordinary South AfricansX
Are real and cannot be ignored. However, the NLC argued that migrant workers should not be blamed for deep rooted structural problems affecting housing, jobs, and public services.
“Our common enemy is not the migrant worker hawking goods in Soweto or mining in Rustenburg,” the NLC wrote. “Our common enemy is neoliberalism, capitalism’s most vicious mask.”
The Nigerian labour centre accused political and economic elites of redirecting public anger toward vulnerable migrants instead of addressing poverty and inequality. It warned that such divisions only strengthen exploitative systems while weakening workers’ collective power across Africa.
Calling for decisive intervention, the NLC urged COSATU to move beyond statements of condemnation and launch mass mobilization campaigns against xenophobia in workplaces, communities, and union structures across South Africa.
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“Every trade union hall, every shop floor, and every picket line must carry the message that an injury to one is an injury to all,” the letter stated, echoing one of the labour movement’s oldest principles of solidarity.
The NLC also criticised what it described as the “passivity” of South African security agencies during attacks on migrants, arguing that failure to act amounts to “complicity.” It demanded the full deployment of state resources to protect migrant workers, prosecute perpetrators, and compensate victims and bereaved families.
“The lethargy we have witnessed speaks of acquiescence, and that is deeply worrying to all who believe in the sanctity of working-class life,” NLC warned.
Drawing on the shared history of African solidarity, the NLC reminded COSATU that Nigerian workers stood firmly with South Africans during the anti-apartheid struggle. The union recalled how Nigerian institutions and communities welcomed South African students and activists during years of racial oppression.
“We cannot abandon that history,” the NLC declared. “We cannot claim to fight for the working class while allowing a section of that class to be hunted like wild animals.”
The labour body further called for a continent-wide educational campaign to challenge anti-immigrant sentiments and dismantle what it described as “the racist myth” that African migrants are responsible for poverty and unemployment.
According to the NLC, xenophobia poses a direct threat to labour movements because it fractures solidarity among workers and weakens their ability to negotiate against powerful corporate interests. “Xenophobia is not good for anybody, especially the world of work,” the letter stated.
In a major call to action, the NLC proposed an emergency gathering of African labour centres under the International Trade Union Confederation Africa and the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity to create joint mechanisms for protecting migrant workers across borders.
The union warned that if xenophobia is not decisively confronted in South Africa, it could spread throughout the continent. “Xenophobia is a cancer that if not excised in South Africa will metastasize across Africa,” the letter cautioned.
Concluding its message with a powerful appeal for unity, the NLC said the crisis goes beyond South Africa and represents a challenge to the entire African working class. “There is no emancipation without solidarity. There is no liberation without the liberation of all African workers, regardless of passport,” the union stated.
With tensions continuing to rise, labour leaders across Africa are now being urged to transform words into action and build a united front against violence, division, and economic injustice. As the NLC concluded in its emotional appeal: “The hour is late. The blood is staining the soil which we share together. It is time for concerted action. Let us save Africa.”
