The Board Chairman of MTN Ghana, Dr Ishmael Yamson, has condemned xenophobic attacks against African migrants in South Africa, questioning how the country can pursue continental trade while violently rejecting the people who facilitate that trade.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, the economist said the situation in South Africa was a major concern to him, Ghanaians and the government.

He said he confronted the issue during a recent visit to South Africa, where he spoke on African integration and immigration.

“I minced no words. I spoke truth to power, and I told them clearly that even if all the foreigners were to leave South Africa, their problems will still remain.”

According to Dr Yamson, South Africa’s economic challenges cannot simply be blamed on foreign nationals.

“It’s a matter of state failure. They have badly managed their economy. Even the apartheid government left them an economy better than what they have today. And yet they now turn around and blame foreigners.”

He said Ghana had played a significant role in supporting liberation struggles across the continent, including South Africa’s fight against apartheid.

“When I was growing up, the area from the new Foreign Affairs in Accra, all the way down to now Village, was called Freedom Fighters Village.”

“Nkrumah built that whole area to bring freedom fighters to train in Ghana, people from Zimbabwe, from South Africa, from Uganda, from wherever. Using Ghana’s money.”

Dr Yamson also cited Ghana’s support for South Africa’s corporate sector after apartheid.

“For instance, the highest-trained person in Unilever South Africa was a supervisor. So, we had to send people from here, Unilever Ghana, to go and help them in South Africa.”

He said his personal experience made the current hostility towards Africans particularly troubling.

“I went to school with South African people who have run away from South Africa. So, for them to suddenly rise up against Africans is something else.”

Dr Yamson also pointed to the irony that South Africa has benefited from decades of support from other African countries, while foreigners are now being blamed for its economic difficulties.

“That’s why Yoweri Museveni says that for 60 years he supported the ANC. And now the foreigners are the criminals, the foreigners are the ones who are taking their jobs, the foreigners are the ones who are doing all the bad things, and therefore they should go away.”

He contrasted South Africa’s approach with Ghana’s handling of foreign nationals.

“I told them there. I said, we have experience in Ghana, but even in that, we were decent enough to give the foreigners time to either regularise their stay or leave.”

He condemned the use of violence to drive African migrants out of South Africa.

“Here, you have mobs and hooligans, people you yourself call criminals, chasing Ghanaians and Nigerians and Zimbabweans and Ugandans, and violently sending them away. No, it’s bad.”

For Dr Yamson, the attacks also expose a contradiction in Africa’s push for economic integration.

“And at the same time, you are talking about African Free Trade Continental whatever, whatever area. So, the trade will come with what, horses and ships?”

“How do you trade without people? You cannot trade without people. You want the trade, but you don’t want the people who bring the trade.”