South Africa, migration and xenophobia. Deconstructing the perceived migration crisis and its influence on the xenophobic reception of migrants

ABSTRACT

Migration to South Africa is commonly depicted as a crisis by government officials, the media and members of the public. This article critically examines the representation of migration to South Africa as a crisis and deconstructs this notion through an examination of the context of migration to South Africa and the reception non-nationals receive upon arrival. While structural forces in nearby countries have caused an increase in migration to South Africa, the South African government’s own failures to respond to domestic, political, economic and social crises have led to the scapegoating of migrants by public officials. The construction of migration as a crisis by public officials reinforces existing widespread xenophobic sentiments amongst the public and has enabled a xenophobic response to international migration. This is exemplified in frequent xenophobic protests and attacks by members of the public, the lack of protection of foreigners by government officials, the exclusion of foreigners from basic government services, and the country’s harsh immigration system and use of arrest and deportation to regulate migration.

KEYWORDS:

• South Africa
• migration
• crisis
• exclusion
• xenophobic attitudes
• xenophobic violence
• scapegoating

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The South African Immigration Act broadly defines the word ‘foreigner’ to describe non-nationals. In this article, the words ‘foreigner’ and ‘migrant’ will be used interchangeably to refer to non-nationals, regardless of their immigration status.

2. Townships are underdeveloped urban living areas built on the outskirts of towns and cities.

3. The figures are calculated using the upper-bound poverty line of R992 per person per month in 2015 prices.

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Notes on contributors

Alexandra Hiropoulos

Alexandra Hiropoulos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at California State University Stanislaus. She received her PhD in criminal justice from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, focusing her research on anti-foreigner violence in South Africa. Between 2015-2017 she was a post-doctoral research fellow with the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of the Witwatersrand where she co-launched a national platform for monitoring xenophobic violence across South Africa, called Xenowatch.She has a background in crime intelligence with the Serious Crime Analysis Section of the National Policing Improvement Agency at Bramshill, UK and holds an MSc in Investigative Psychology from the University of Liverpool, a MPhil in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY and a BA in Psychology from Deree College in Athens, Greece. Her research interests include migration, xenophobic violence and policing.