This interview was originally aired on Talk Radio 702, on 31 March 2025.

Bongani Bingwa speaks to Prof. Loren Landau, an expert in migration and development from Oxford and Wits University and traditional leadership and heritage expert, Prof. Somadoda Fikeni about escalating tensions in the Eastern Cape following protests over the alleged coronation of a ‘Nigerian king’ in KuGompo City. What began as a march has reportedly turned violent, with incidents of stabbings, looted shops, and torched vehicles. Landau helps unpack whether the incident is a case of xenophobia or a more complex conflict over traditional leadership, identity, and representation within communities. The discussion also explores why certain grievances erupt into violence while others, such as service delivery frustrations, do not, and whether this incident has exposed deeper, long-standing tensions bubbling beneath the surface.

For more from this interview, listen below: