You hear the drums for a United States of Africa on TikTok and in AU speeches, then you watch charter flights bringing Nigerians home from Johannesburg and “Nigerians Must Go” placards in Accra. They are not the same thing, even if they use the same word “Africa.”
Here is what is actually happening on both sides.
The “United States of Africa” camp is an idea, not a government
The phrase comes from Nkrumah, Gaddafi, Wade, and now a new generation of Pan-African creators.
The African Union’s own target was a “united and integrated Africa by 2025”, and in 2025-2026 that energy has moved to youth media like “United States of Africa TV” pushing for one passport, one market, and control of resources.
It is a political project — sovereignty from outside powers, free trade under AfCFTA, a common voice. It does not yet mean open borders tomorrow. Most of its champions, including the Alliance of Sahel States leaders, are also the most nationalist at home.
South Africa: not a national expulsion, but a street deadline turned state action
In mid-2025, vigilante groups like Operation Dudula and “March and March” marched through townships demanding all undocumented foreigners leave by 30 June. That deadline had no legal force, and police said so publicly.
But the pressure worked on the ground:
More than 2,400 foreign nationals were repatriated in coordinated operations ahead of that June 30 date
Groups were going door-to-door telling people to leave
Cyril Ramaphosa responded by ordering Home Affairs, police and Border Management to intensify identification and deportation of undocumented migrants
Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique and Malawi all sent planes or buses. Ghana alone airlifted 297 Ghanaian from OR Tambo. Nigeria’s first batch was about 260.
So South Africa is not asking “non – Indigins” to leave — it is targeting people without papers, driven by 32% unemployment, service-delivery protests, and an election year where foreigners are an easy scapegoat.
Ghana: protests, not policy, but with deep history
In July 2025, red-clad protesters in Accra marched with “Nigerians Must Go” signs, blaming Nigerians for kidnapping, prostitution and ritual murders.
The government did the opposite of an expulsion order. Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa assured non-citizens of safety, saying the protest reflected tension, not policy.
What is real is economic friction:
Traders union GUTA gave foreign retailers a one-week ultimatum to stop retail trade, citing Ghanaian law that reserves that space for locals
Courts deported 106 foreigners after a 2025 police sweep for illegal entry
Ghanaians remember 1969 Aliens Compliance Order, Nigerians remember 1983 “Ghana Must Go.” Both countries know how quickly brotherhood turns into buses at the border.
How do we reconcile the two?
They are not opposites, they are different layers of African politics that have always coexisted.
. Unity is top-down, xenophobia is bottom-up. Pan-Africanism is negotiated by presidents and activists. The pain of job competition, rent hikes, and crime is felt in Soweto and Circle, Accra. Until the AU’s free-movement protocol is ratified and enforced — only four countries have fully — people experience Africa through immigration officers, not ideology.
“United States of Africa” does not mean no borders. Even the EU, the model everyone quotes, spent 40 years building courts, funds, and work permits before free movement.
Africa has the vision without the plumbing: no continental ID, no portable social security, no shared border force. So when economies shrink, countries default to what they control — deportation.
. Legal vs illegal is the political shield. Both Pretoria and Accra say they welcome Africans, but not “illegal” ones. That distinction lets governments sound Pan-African while satisfying angry voters. In South Africa the June 30 push was by mobs; the state then legitimized it by speeding legal removals.
History repeats because we never fixed the economics. 1969, 1983, 2019, 2025 — same pattern: downturn, foreigners blamed, expulsion, apology, repeat.
A United States of Africa without industrial jobs in Kano, Kumasi and Khayelitsha will always lose to “they are taking our shops.”
Reconciliation therefore is not about choosing one slogan. It means being honest that Pan-African unity needs three things we do not have yet:
real free movement with rights, not just visa-free tourism
a continental fund that compensates host communities when migration spikes
enforcement against street vigilantism, because police statements do not stop door-to-door threats
Until then, you will keep seeing both at once: TikTok lives calling for one passport, and a charter flight from Johannesburg landing in Lagos the same week. The idea is not dead — it is just unfinished, and the unfinished parts hurt ordinary people first.
– Benjamin Ibrahim writes from Lokoja, Kogi state.
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