Xenophobic attacks in South Africa: Much Ado About the Wrong Threat?

This means that a South African company may eventually outsource legal research, customer service, software development, accounting or medical documentation—not to another African country—but to AI systems operating on servers located elsewhere.

Many South Africans fear that African migrants are taking jobs, yet comparatively little public attention is given to the technological transformation that may eliminate entire categories of employment altogether.

South Africa's future prosperity will depend less on excluding African migrants than on preparing its people for an economy transformed by artificial intelligence.