South Africa's increasingly heated debate over undocumented migration is often framed in narrow terms: border control, deportation, law enforcement and competition for scarce jobs.
Movements such as Operation Dudula, March and March and similar anti-immigration campaigns and sentiments reflect genuine public frustration in a country burdened by unemployment, inequality and failing public services.
Yet migration is not the disease.It is often the symptom.
The larger question is: Why do millions of Africans continue to leave countries endowed with extraordinary natural wealth, youthful populations and vast economic potential in search of livelihoods elsewhere?
The answer lies less in geography than in governance.
Across southern, eastern and central Africa, countries rich in minerals, agricultural land, energy resources and human capital have struggled to convert the assets into broad-based prosperity.
Corruption, weak institutions, conflict, poor educational outcomes and dependence on foreign aid have constrained development.
The result is a paradox: some of the world's wealthiest resource regions remain among its largest sources of migrants and refugees.
Africa's future depends not on walls and deportations but on building economies capable of creating opportunity where people live.
A continent rich beyond measure
The countries that contribute significantly to migration into South Africa possess resources that, if effectively managed, could sustain far larger and more prosperous economies:
Zimbabwe
- Resources:Platinum, gold, lithium, chrome, diamonds and coal; fertile agricultural land; a strong tourism potential; and a highly educated population.
- Challenges:Its issue has never been a lack of resources but political instability, policy inconsistency and weakened investor confidence.With stable institutions, Zimbabwe could become a major industrial and agricultural power.
Mozambique
- Resources:One of the world's largest offshore natural gas reserves; coal; graphite; titanium; gemstones; extensive fisheries; vast agricultural potential; and hydro-electric resources.
- Challenges:The challenge lies in ensuring that resource wealth benefits citizens rather than narrow political and commercial interests.
Malawi
- Resources:Fertile land; water from Lake Malawi; potential for agro-processing, and tourism.
- Challenges:Finding investment in irrigation, agricultural technology and manufacturing that could transform livelihoods.
Democratic Republic of Congo
- Resources:Cobalt; copper; lithium; gold; coltan; diamonds; and hydropower to supply much of Africa's electricity.
- Challenges:No country better illustrates the tragedy of wealth without institutions than the DRC.Proper governance could make it one of the world's most important industrial economies.
Somalia
- Resources:One of Africa's longest coastlines; fisheries; livestock industries; strategic ports; and potential for offshore hydrocarbons.
- Challenges:Peace and state-building would unlock substantial economic possibilities.
Nigeria
- Resources:Oil and gas reserves; large agricultural potential; creative industries; financial services; technology entrepreneurship; and the potential as one of the world's largest consumer markets.
- Challenges:Corruption, insecurity and infrastructure deficits continue to limit growth.
Ethiopia
- Resources:A large labour force; agricultural resources; hydro-electric capacity; manufacturing potential; and a growing technology sector.
- Challenges:Recent growth demonstrates what is possible when investment and industrial policy align, although conflict has interrupted progress.
The governance dividend
Natural resources do not create prosperity by themselves.
Institutions do.Countries that have escaped poverty share common characteristics.They have:
- Strong legal systems;
- Low corruption;
- Predictable policy environments;
- Effective public administration;
- High-quality education;
- Investment in infrastructure;
- And merit-based public institutions.
Africa loses billions annually through illicit financial flows, corruption and inefficiencies.
Recovering even a portion of the losses could fund schools, roads, electricity systems, irrigation projects and industrial parks.
The difference between resource wealth and prosperity is governance.
Education: Africa's missing industrial policy
Education systems across much of Africa often produce graduates disconnected from labour market needs.Future economic growth requires technical and vocational training; engineering; agricultural sciences; digital technologies; renewable energy skills; manufacturing expertise and healthcare professions.
Education should not merely prepare students for examinations; it should prepare nations for industrialisation.Countries that align education with economic strategy create employment.Countries that do not, export labour.
Ending dependence on aid and war economies
Wars across Africa have cost millions of lives, displaced tens of millions more and crippled development for generations, eroding education, healthcare and economic growth while leaving deep psychological scars.
The continent's conflict zones, from Sudan and the Sahel to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia, illustrate how violence destroys human potential and perpetuates cycles of poverty and instability.
Since the 1990s, conflicts in Sudan, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the DRC have collectively claimed more than 10 million lives, according to UN and World Bank estimates.
More than 40 million Africans are displaced internally or as refugees, with Sudan alone exceeding 10 million in 2026 due to renewed fighting.
Wars destroy hospitals and interrupt vaccination programmes, leading to spikes in malaria, cholera and maternal mortality.
In Tigray (Ethiopia), post-war malnutrition and disease have killed thousands even after active combat ended.
Studies show that children exposed to political violence suffer long-term mental health issues, reduced educational attainment and diminished lifetime earnings.
Developmental consequences
- War-torn African economies grow 2% to 3% slower a year than peaceful ones.
- Children born during conflicts face lifelong disadvantages: malnutrition, poor schooling and limited job prospects.
- Prolonged instability weakens institutions, enabling corruption and authoritarianism.
- Women bear disproportionate burdens: sexual violence, loss of livelihoods and exclusion from peace processes.
Too many African economies remain vulnerable to foreign aid dependence; commodity price shocks; conflict-driven economic systems; and extractive industries with limited local value addition.
A self-reliant Africa requires domestic savings; industrialisation; tax reform; productive investment; regional trade; and strong institutions.
The continent possesses about 60% of the world's uncultivated arable land; vast renewable energy potential; critical minerals essential for the global green transition; and one of the youngest populations on Earth.The challenge is therefore not a shortage of assets.It is converting potential into prosperity.
Migration as choice, not necessity
Migration has always been part of human history and will remain so.
Well-managed migration benefits economies through skills, investment and entrepreneurship.
But there is a profound difference between migration driven by opportunity and migration driven by desperation.
No Zimbabwean, Congolese, Malawian, Ethiopian, Somali or Mozambican should have to risk exploitation, xenophobia or deportation to build a dignified life.
Nor should South Africans bear the social tension created by uneven development across the region.
The answer is neither open borders nor closed borders alone.It is successful states.If African governments commit to honest governance, targeted education, industrialisation and regional cooperation, migration pressures will diminish naturally.
The greatest development project of the 21st century is not merely to grow African economies.It is to create an Africa where citizens stay because they can prosper at home; and leave only because they choose to.
Shabodien Roomanay is a retired teacher and the former headmaster of Islamia College in Cape Town. He is also the founder member of the Salt River Heritage Society and a committee member of the Academia Library and Resource Centre.