Telecom
MTN Chairman Blasts Xenophobia, Says South Africa Is Nothing Without Africa
Mcebisi Jonas, MTN Group Chairma,n has used the funeral service of Zimbabwean-born activist and public servant Thokozani Damasane to mount a sweeping attack on xenophobia, ethnic politics and state failure in South Africa, warning that the country’s crisis cannot be solved by blaming foreigners.
MTN Group Chairman, Mcebisi Jonas
Delivering what many described as one of the most forceful interventions yet by a senior African business leader on South Africa’s immigration debate, Jonas said the persistence of anti-foreigner sentiment was a symptom of deeper governance failures, political opportunism and the erosion of a shared moral vision.
He argued that inequality, unemployment, corruption and weak institutions would remain even if all foreigners left the country, insisting that the real problem lay in the failure of the state to govern effectively.
“Foreigners can leave tomorrow – inequality will be with us,” he said. “Foreigners will leave tomorrow – unemployment will be with us. Foreigners will leave tomorrow – our police will remain corrupt.”
Jonas, a former South African Deputy Minister of Finance, made the remarks at a funeral service that had drawn mourners from civic, political and business circles. His speech, which blended philosophy, memory, political critique and grief, has since circulated widely across South Africa and beyond.
Jonas said a central question had stayed with him as he drove to the service: what home meant to Damasane, a man who had been born and educated in Zimbabwe before moving to South Africa during the post-apartheid period.
“I was thinking, what is home to Damasane?” he told mourners. “Because I understand, and I understood very early in life, that home is where humanity is. Home is about humanness. It is about the good of humanity and striving for the good of humanity.”
He described Damasane as someone who arrived in South Africa “as an outcast” but chose to immerse himself in the struggles of the country and its people.
“He immersed himself deeply into the struggles, into the pains of South Africans, and he became one of us,” Jonas said. “In Damasane’s strength, our strength as South Africa and South Africans are reflected. And in his weaknesses, our own weaknesses are reflected.”
The sharpest portion of Jonas’ speech came when he turned to the wave of xenophobic rhetoric that has repeatedly flared in South Africa, particularly against migrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and other African countries.
He dismissed the argument that foreigners were responsible for the country’s social and economic hardship, saying that such claims merely masked the failures of political leadership and public institutions.
“The problem is the failure of the state,” he said. “The state doesn’t manage immigration. It doesn’t manage its borders. It doesn’t enforce law enforcement. It doesn’t manage education. What are you expecting?”
Jonas accused politicians of exploiting public frustration for electoral gain, warning that communities under pressure are easily manipulated by leaders who offer scapegoats instead of solutions.
“When people feel the burn, they become vulnerable to politicians whose sole purpose is to be elected and re-elected,” he said. “Some of them have no credibility whatsoever. But they lead marches and tell our people that the problem is not us – it is foreigners.”
Jonas also used the occasion to offer a sustained critique of tribalism and ethnic identity politics, describing them as colonial constructs that have survived into the present through political manipulation.
“The tribe is a product of colonial powers,” he said. “You would notice that it is so dominant in areas where the English conquered, because they used something called the principle of indirect rule.”
According to him, colonial administrations deliberately sharpened differences between communities in order to divide and control them.
“You have got to divide these people by psychologically enhancing the notion that one is different from the other. That’s how the notion of tribe was born,” he said.
Jonas argued that the same logic now fuels xenophobic violence and exclusion, with people increasingly persecuted not because of what they have done but because of who they are perceived to be.
He said liberation movements were also guilty of keeping ethnic identities alive for political convenience.
“Liberation movements still sustain this thing of tribes – Zulu and Xhosa – and we sustain this thing as if it is real,” he said. “It is in our heads. We’re creating it because it makes us feel big. Identity politics – we must banish them in our country. Ethno-nationalism is something in this country we must banish.”
In explaining Damasane’s significance, Jonas drew on the writings of Frantz Fanon, the anti-colonial thinker and psychiatrist whose work shaped liberation struggles across Africa and the Global South.
He compared Damasane to Fanon, noting that both men were born outside the societies they later helped shape and serve.
Fanon, he said, was “born elsewhere” and was “not a Muslim,” yet became one of the most respected theorists of the Algerian Revolution. The parallel, Jonas suggested, was deliberate: Damasane, too, had chosen commitment over comfort.
“Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it,” Jonas quoted Fanon as saying. “Damasane understood the mission. And he did not betray it.”
He also recalled a conversation Damasane had once had with a young man who questioned the presence of foreigners in South Africa. Damasane’s reply, Jonas said, had remained with him.
“Damasane said to this guy: just wait fifteen or twenty years. You will also be wanting to leave your country.”
Jonas said those words now sounded prophetic in light of worsening inequality, exclusion and corruption.
“As I stand up today, I look at South Africa. The level of oppression and inequality, the level of exclusion of our people, the level of corruption, the betrayal of the dream of liberation – those words of Damasane ring very loud in my ears,” he said.
Jonas ended on a note of continental solidarity, saying South Africa’s future was inseparable from Africa’s future.
“We are a nation embedded in Africa,” he said. “And without Africa, our growth as a country – economically – our fortune is intertwined with the growth of Africa. South Africa is nothing without Africa. And Africa is nothing without South Africa.”
He also urged mourners to rethink the way success and dignity are measured, saying merit should not be reduced to wealth alone.
“Sometimes this thing called meritocracy is measured in wealth. No. It is values, it is principle, it is integrity. And your father had all of that,” he said.
Jonas further stressed that a person’s legal or social worth should not be judged by their origin.
“We cannot judge people by their origin,” he said. “We cannot determine the legal status of people by their origin.”
Jonas’ intervention comes at a time when xenophobia remains one of South Africa’s most combustible social and political issues, with periodic attacks on foreign nationals continuing to draw outrage across the continent.
The consequences have often extended beyond South Africa’s borders, triggering diplomatic tensions, travel advisories and boycott calls in parts of Africa. For pan-African companies like MTN, whose operations depend on cross-border trust and political stability, the debate is not only moral but commercial.
That context made Jonas’ decision to speak so directly at a funeral especially notable. Rather than a corporate forum or policy panel, he used a farewell to make a wider argument about belonging, leadership and the future of the continent.
In doing so, he turned Damasane’s burial into something larger than a memorial: a warning against the politics of fear, and a plea for a South Africa that remembers its place in Africa.
Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has declared support for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC’s) push to promote local smartphone manufacturing in the country.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON,
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that ALTON described the move as a practical measure capable of accelerating broadband adoption and expanding digital inclusion across the country.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON, made the remarks to newsmen on Saturday while reacting to comments by Idris Olorunnimbe, chairman, NCC Board, who had earlier called for local smartphone production and innovative financing models to address Nigeria’s digital inclusion gap.
Adebayo said Nigeria must intentionally transition from being predominantly a technology consumer to becoming an innovator, designer and manufacturer of digital technologies, pointing to the country’s large telecommunications market and youthful population as the scale and human capital needed to support world-class manufacturing.
He said Nigeria’s ambition in local manufacturing should extend well beyond simply assembling imported components into finished devices.
“Our ambition should extend beyond assembling devices. We must pursue genuine knowledge transfer, research and development, product engineering, software development, semiconductor capabilities and large-scale manufacturing,” he said, adding that the goal should be producing devices and digital technologies for Nigeria, Africa and the global market.
Adebayo explained that the emergence of artificial intelligence has further strengthened Nigeria’s opportunity to become a competitive technology manufacturing hub, noting that AI is transforming product design, manufacturing, quality assurance, supply chain management, customer experience and software innovation.
He said investing in AI-enabled manufacturing would improve productivity, create high-value jobs and strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness across Africa.
On tackling counterfeit and non-type-approved devices, Adebayo described the grey market as a major challenge affecting consumers, original equipment manufacturers and the wider telecommunications ecosystem.
He said robust local manufacturing backed by strong quality standards would provide credible alternatives to grey-market imports.
“This will strengthen consumer protection, improve network performance, retain greater value within our economy, and stimulate industrial growth,” he said, while also endorsing innovative smartphone financing, stronger device management systems and identity-enabled credit frameworks to help more Nigerians afford quality smartphones.
Adebayo said telecom operators remain ready to partner with government, manufacturers, financiers, academia, investors and development partners to build sustainable local manufacturing capacity in Nigeria.
Ayotunde Coker, managing director, Open Access Data Centres has reiterated availability of abundant capacity and world-class infrastructure in key data centres in Nigeria.
This is coming against the backdrop of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive to banks, fintechs, mobile money operators, and other payment service providers to host their payment transaction data generated within Nigeria on local servers from January 1st, 2027.
Mr. Coker made the assertion at a media interactive session on readiness of major data centres in the country such as Open Access Data centres to effectively host financial sector data.
“As far as readiness is concerned, we have the co-location base, the co-infrastructure basis, and interconnection capability. Indigenous cloud companies are building out, such companies like Unicloud Africa, Layer 3 within the data centres, adding cloud capability, and providing cloud solutions to local companies.
“The other key thing with the directive is that it sends a signal to the world that data sovereignty localization is key. And will also trigger the global providers to bring their own scale of cloud in here in time, which is good for building our digital infrastructure scale”.
The CBN directive signed by the Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, Rakiya Yusuf, also introduced new market structure rules, beneficial ownership disclosure requirements and systemic oversight measures for payment service operators.
According to the apex bank, the reforms became necessary following the rapid expansion of electronic payments and digital financial services across the country.
The CBN said it had observed “significant structural developments within the Nigerian Payments ecosystem, characterized by rapid growth in electronic payments, increasing adoption of digital financial services, and the emergence of operators with substantial market presence across key payment activities.”
It noted that while the growth had improved innovation, efficiency and financial inclusion, it had also created concerns around market concentration, operational dependence, ownership transparency and the storage of critical payments data.
To address these concerns, the regulator ordered all financial institutions facilitating payments in Nigeria to ensure that transaction data generated within the country are stored domestically.
The circular stated, “All Financial Institutions and participants facilitating payments within Nigeria shall ensure that payments transaction data generated within Nigeria are stored and managed in Nigeria in accordance with data protection laws and regulations applicable in Nigeria.”
It added that “all affected Financial Institutions shall fully comply with this requirement effective January 1, 2027.”
The move is expected to strengthen regulatory oversight, enhance data sovereignty and ensure that sensitive payment information remains within Nigeria’s jurisdiction.
It also aligns with broader efforts by regulators globally to localise critical financial data and reduce reliance on offshore infrastructure.
Nigeria’s telecommunications sector recorded further growth in April 2026 as active mobile subscriptions increased to 188.01 million, while broadband penetration rose to 55.67 per cent, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The latest industry statistics released by the commission showed that active telephony subscriptions rose to 188,009,171 in April from the previous month’s figure, raising the country’s teledensity to 86.73 per cent from 85.67 per cent recorded in March.
The report indicated sustained expansion in access to telecommunications services, driven by increasing demand for mobile voice and data services across the country.
According to the NCC, MTN Nigeria retained its position as the largest operator with 96,391,419 active subscribers, accounting for more than half of the country’s total mobile subscriptions.
Airtel Nigeria followed with 64,670,018 subscribers, while Globacom recorded 23,178,597 subscribers.
9mobile had 3,538,021 active subscribers during the period.
The commission’s data also showed continued migration by consumers to faster broadband technologies.
It said fourth-generation (4G) technology remained the dominant mobile network platform, accounting for 54.41 per cent of total network connections in April, up from 53.76 per cent in March.
Similarly, fifth-generation (5G) technology continued its steady growth, with market share increasing from 4.20 per cent in March to 4.34 per cent in April.
However, the share of second-generation (2G) subscriptions declined to 35.93 per cent from 36.74 per cent, reflecting a gradual shift away from legacy networks to higher-speed broadband services.
The report added that the third-generation (3G) segment remained relatively stable, accounting for 5.32 per cent of total connections compared with 5.30 per cent recorded in March.
It further showed that of the total subscriptions, 154,347,260 were on mobile GSM networks, while fixed wired internet subscriptions stood at 156,662.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services accounted for 220,166 subscriptions.
The NCC also reported significant growth in broadband subscriptions, which increased to 120,684,625 in April from 117,710,397 in March.
Consequently, broadband penetration improved to 55.67 per cent from 54.30 per cent recorded in the previous month.
The commission attributed the increase to continued investment in broadband infrastructure and growing adoption of high-speed internet services by households and businesses.
Despite the growth in broadband subscriptions, total internet data consumption declined slightly during the month.
According to the report, internet usage fell marginally to 1,414,848.70 terabytes (TB) in April from 1,422,764.54TB recorded in March.
The report suggested that while more Nigerians were gaining internet access, overall data consumption remained relatively stable.
The NCC noted that the telecommunications sector continued to play a critical role in the nation’s economy, contributing 9.19 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2026.
It added that sustained investment in broadband infrastructure, wider deployment of 5G networks and improved quality of service would further accelerate digital inclusion, innovation and economic growth in the country.
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