Foreigners in the South African Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Figures & data

Figure 1: Number of immigrants in South Africa 1990-2019

Source: UN DESA (2019) https://www.un.org/en/development/desa

Figure 2: Number of xenophobic incidents in South Africa by year (1994–2021)

Source: Xenowatch (2021)

Table 1. Xenophobic incidents in South Africa (1994–2021)

Category	Total number
Total incidents	796
Persons killed	588
Persons displaced	121 945
Physical assaults	1 118
Shops looted	4 693
Property damaged	1 386

Source: Xenowatch (2021)

Table 2: South Africans’ trust of media types according to immigrant attitudes (per cent)

Media type	Pro-immigrants	Middle ground	Anti-immigrants	Total
Radio	49	53	50	51
Television	58	70	67	66
Newspapers	27	32	27	30
Internet and social media	11	15	8	12

Source: Adapted from Gordon (2020a) based on SASAS (2018)

Table 3: Top ten keyword list: Words and multi-words

Words	Multi-words
Xenophobic	Xenophobic violence
Xenophobia	South African government
Gauteng	African government
Mashaba	Public violence
Johannesburg	Police spokesperson
Migrant	Illegal immigration
Foreigner	Informal settlement
Motsoaledi	Police station
Ramaphosa	Portfolio committee
Looting	South African society

Table 4: Quantification of immigrants in South African news articles

10  leads to a large number of undocumented illegal immigrants from various countries having access to our land.

26  to control the number of undocumented and illegal immigrants in the country’. </s> <s > Last week, the Gauteng Dep

88  has damaged his legacy? </s> <s > Over 300 illegal foreigners arrested for trying to enter SA during lockdown.

105 that the city of Johannesburg was taken over by foreigners, with 80 per cent of the city controlled by them.

12  country census showed approximately 2.2 million foreign nationals living in the country legally

70  SAPS) said on Sunday. ‘A large group of foreign nationals were arrested for residing on and operating a fac

23  before the first democratic elections, a vast number of foreigners entered the country masquerading as locally born

Table 5: Metaphors describing foreigners in South Africa

280  Cape Town, where people queue from 3am. </s> <s > Foreigners descended on the UN High Commission for Refugee

193  Hillbrow. </s> <s > More than 300 undocumented foreign nationals were discovered in a hijacked building in Hillbro

50   examination of the root causes of why so many foreign nationals from the continent are flooding to South Africa in

15   that South Africa has ‘porous borders’ that allow foreign nationals and migrants to come and go without much regulation

234  drivers warned that its ‘war’ will continue ‘until all foreigners are gone’. </s> <s > This is domestic terrorism.

224  be made for transportation ‘to transport the foreigners to Lindela holding facility in Krugersdorp,’ he added.

187  that there has been a massive influx of African foreigners into South Africa who are ‘stealing our jobs’

172  convoluted … ‘people simply need to understand that foreigners are an asset and this needs political leadership,’ he

164  Diepsloot, Thokoza and Tembisa. About 300 foreigners had flocked to the Thokoza community hall on Saturday

146  respond to reports of disturbances. He said foreigners were still ‘trickling into’ Rabie Ridge police station in

109  by the end of 2018.The party claims that foreigners plan to take over the country in a few years and thus

107  right-wing Freedom Front Plus promised to place foreigners in camps rather than letting them roam free in South Africa

105  ed that the city of Johannesburg was taken over by foreigners, with 80 per cent of the city controlled by them.

102  atmosphere of crisis. Politicians claim that foreigners are flooding South Africa and undermining country’s

100  me.. while companies in South Africa are employing foreigners … [because] its cheap labour. We are hungry

50   re to be a fight against the ‘abnormal influx of illegal foreigners in our country’ and that hospitals and schools were

135  ‘leading the charge against undocumented immigrants’. </s> <s > Last week Gauteng premier David Makhu

136  Yet there is little empirical evidence that immigrants are driving problems like crime or unemployment.

133  to help it to protect its porous borders from illegal immigrants. Defense minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqak

132  to use drones to keep borders safe from illegal immigrants. SA will look to technology to help protect

123  In a bid to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants in the city of Johannesburg’ officials have conducted

109  work without protection. A group of illegal immigrants have fled from the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Kr

83   to six-year operation to rid the country of illegal immigrants; * August 7 2019: messages calling for South Africa

61   is for government to accept that this population of immigrants is a permanent feature of South Africa’s demography

63   looted and torched as locals attempted to drive out immigrants from other African states. Since then, the vi

44   Labour department closes factories using illegal immigrants as cheap labour A joint law enforcement operation p

31   affairs on addressing the issue of undocumented immigrants were ignored. </s> <s > Mashaba said he wrote to Bo

33   can ‘assist us in dealing with this problem of illegal immigrants’. </s> <s > Cwele said the government had demonstrated

32   government has vowed to crack down on undocumented immigrants, some of whom are involved in illegal activities

1    The main opposition party says undocumented immigrants are not only an added burden to the state, but are re

Figure 3. Grammatical positions of the terms immigrant and foreigner

Source: Derived from the corpus created by the authors for this study.

Figure 4. Verbs grammatically linked with the words immigrant and foreigner

Source: Derived from the corpus created by the authors for this study.

Figure 5. Aggregate access to the South African media for different groups

Source: Derived from the corpus created by the authors for this study.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). 2019. ‘International Migrant Stock 2019: Country Profiles’. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/migrationreport/docs/MigrationStock2019_TenKeyFindings.pdf.

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Xenowatch. 2021. ‘Xenowatch Factsheet 2: Incidents of Xenophobic Violence in South Africa: 1994 – April 2021’. https://www.xenowatch.ac.za/xenowatch-factsheet-2-incidents-of-xenophobic-violence-in-south-africa-1994-april-2021/

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Gordon, Steven Lawrence. 2020a. ‘Understanding the Attitude-Behaviour Relationship: A Quantitative Analysis of Public Participation in Anti-Immigrant Violence in South Africa’. South African Journal of Psychology 50 (1): 103–114. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246319831626

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