Xenophobia, State and Society in South Africa, 2008–2010

Abstract

Based on primary research that was in field immediately before and after the May 2008 xenophobic violence, this article explores the social base that fed and continues to feed xenophobia in South Africa. It examines the different ways that the violence has been labelled—criminal, xenophobic, negrophobic, Afrophobic—and explores possible motivations for using these different labels. It also examines the role that civil society organizations played during and after the violence, and concludes that without a far more deep-seated economic and social transformation, South Africa will remain beset by unresolved challenges that have their roots in our past but remain with us today.

Notes

This old chestnut was repeated recently by an official from the Department of Home Affairs at a workshop on xenophobia at the University of Johannesburg in October 2010, who argued that attacks all occurred near Inkatha-controlled hostels, just as the political violence had done in the 1990–1994 interregnum. This explanation unavoidably fails to explain how the violence reached the Western or Eastern Cape, where the Inkatha Freedom Party has no presence (and no hostels).

See the references for a full list of case studies commissioned by The Atlantic Philanthropies.

The author was conducting a series of 24 focus groups immediately before and after the violence, testing broad socio-political attitudes in the run-up to the 2009 election. The client who commissioned the groups (who wishes to remain anonymous) has given permission for the xenophobia-related content to be re-analysed.

For a graphic view of what happened, see the documentary by Filmmakers Against Racism (2008), ‘Affectionately Known as Alex’.

Started in 1996, the collected outputs of SAMP can be accessed at http://www.queensu.ca/samp/sampresources/samppublications/

‘Black danger’, a phrase frequently used by various officials and politicians under apartheid; often coupled to ‘rooi gevaar’ or ‘red (communist) danger’.

Email from Dr Karuti Kanyinga, 18 November 2010.

The notion that I am because you are—our common humanity ties us all together.

The most famous image of the time sees a Mozambican man burning to death while schoolchildren in neat uniforms look on, laughing.

This latter point, about ID scams involving Pakistanis, was repeated in many of the focus groups. As one participant put it, ‘women when they get a passport find they are married to a Pakistani!’

van Zyl Slabbert, F. (1992), The Quest for Democracy: South Africa in Transition (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books), pp. 66–70.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Everatt

Executive Director, Gauteng City-Region Observatory, a partnership of the University of Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand, and Gauteng Provincial Government, South Africa. I am enormously grateful to all those who have commented on or reviewed subsequent drafts of this paper, including Cathi Albertyn, Patrick Bond, Karuti Kanyinga, Vladimir Shubin and Matt Smith. I remain responsible for all errors.