Tunisia, after promising democracy, inclusive development and peace following the country’s 2011 Jasmine Revolution, which toppled authoritarian Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and ushered in the Arab Spring that overturned North African dictatorships, has backslid into autocracy, runaway corruption and economic decline.
The country, like South Africa, following state failure, economic decline and lawlessness because of government corruption, incompetence and the capture of democratic institutions, is now experiencing mass xenophobia as governing party leaders and citizens shift the blame for state failure to foreigners rather than holding the government and leaders accountable.
In March, Tunisia was engulfed in attacks on Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa after President Kaïs Saïed announced a crackdown on illegal migration of citizens from the rest of the continent. Thereafter, security forces detained, abused and evicted dozens of migrants from their homes. More than 300 people from Sub-Saharan Africa, including women and children, were arrested between February 14 and 16. In a typical incident, police in Tunis, the capital, arrested staff at a day care centre and parents picking up their children, questioning them about their residency status. Some arrestees' children had to be rescued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and many migrants were deported to their countries. Saïed accused African migrants of being part of a conspiracy to make Tunisia more African and less Arab.
During a meeting of his cabinet’s national security council on February 21, Saïed said migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa were “a source of crime and delinquency”. Tunisia is among countries often used as a conduit by migrants from African countries on their way to Europe. In the orgy of xenophobic attacks after Saïed’s announcement, many fled Tunisia.
The AU has condemned Saïed’s “racialised hate speech”. Local black Tunisians have also reported increasing racial profiling by authorities, related abuse and targeted attacks. Tunisian social media was flooded with news of xenophobic attacks on migrants. Students from Sub-Saharan Africa have been told by higher education authorities to stay at home and make use of online learning for their safety.
Saïed has rejected accusations of racism, saying: “Africans are our brothers” and “Tunisia is a proud African country”. Its human rights activists, intellectuals and artists have loudly protested against rising xenophobia unleashed by Saïed’s crackdown on “illegal” migrants. The country's civil society organisations issued a statement denouncing his campaign of arbitrary arrest, race profiling and deportation, saying it was “dangerous and inciting hate towards migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa”.
A populist party, the Tunisian Nationalist Party (Parti Nationalist Tunisien), has alleged in public campaigns since its 2018 launch a “sub-Saharan invasion” of Tunisia. Its leaders have urged Tunisians on social media not to rent homes to, employ or include Africans from the region in their social circles. The party is campaigning for the repeal of a 2018 law calling for the elimination of racial discrimination.
The multiparty democracy that emerged from Tunisia’s revolution has all but vanished since Saïed seized far-reaching powers last year, consolidated under a new constitution he pushed through in July, despite less than 30% voter support.
Saïed seized control of most governmental powers in 2021, shutting down parliament, ruling by decree and outraging the opposition, civil society and the media. He detained scores of members of opposition groups, human rights activists and journalists critical of his autocratic behaviour. Saïed and his government have attempted to shift the blame for their mismanagement of the country to immigrants.
Tunisia is experiencing peak migration of its poor citizens to Europe because of a domestic economic crisis which has led to business closures, high unemployment and increasing poverty. The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have contributed to this, with high fuel, transport and food prices, and declining development aid from the West as it moves financial support to bolster Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
However, the high levels of corruption, economic mismanagement and authoritarianism of the Saïed government have also pushed away investment, caused a skills drain and a climate of hopelessness. The state has sought a $1.9bn (about R34.6bn) loan from the International Monetary Fund to help keep its economy afloat. In 2022, more than 40,000 Tunisians left for Europe illegally. However, many professionals — engineers, doctors and entrepreneurs — are doing so legally because of the depressed economy, corruption and government authoritarianism. This is denuding the country of the skills, money and energy to turn around the economy and strengthen democracy and its institutions.
Basics such as sugar, milk and gas are in short supply. Unemployment stands at nearly 20%. The multiparty democracy that emerged from Tunisia’s revolution has all but vanished since Saïed seized far-reaching powers last year, consolidated under a new constitution he pushed through in July, despite less than 30% voter support. Nine in 10 eligible Tunisians did not vote in December 2022 elections for a vastly weakened parliament, which Saïed argues helps strengthen grassroots democracy by bypassing party lists.
The number of Tunisians migrating to Europe for work is now at similar levels to those of 2011, when a combination of poverty and political authoritarianism by the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime ignited the Arab Spring uprisings which toppled the government. High levels of poverty, unemployment and low economic growth are again combining with an authoritarian government. Many Saïed critics say the president is trying to blame sub-Saharan Africans in Tunisia for this to escape accountability and prevent being toppled in the same way Ben Ali was. Youssef Chebbi, the Tunisian filmmaker, said: “Saïed is using a populist discourse to distract from his deep lack of competence.”
William Gumede is associate professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, and author of 'Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times' (Tafelberg)
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