The Rise of Xenophobic Violence in South Africa

Xenophobic violence is not new to South Africa. According to Xenowatch, a monitoring tool developed by the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand to monitor incidents of xenophobic violence in South Africa, 1053 incidents of xenophobic violence have taken place in South Africa since 1994, leading to the displacement of at least 125,572 people and the death of 663 people. Yet, incidents involving xenophobic violence and discrimination have increased markedly since the late 2000s and represent a major threat to national unity and stability in South Africa.

Xenophobia is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the ‘deep antipathy to foreigners and foreign things’. In South Africa, centuries of structural injustices and exclusion have created a highly unequal and polarised society that continues to grapple with the legacy of systemic racism and class exploitation introduced and sustained by colonialism, apartheid, and white supremacy. In this political and socio-economic environment, the debate on foreign migration and multiculturalism has become increasingly acrimonious.

Xenophobia emerged as a serious societal issue in South Africa in the 1980s when an estimated 250,000 to 350,000 foreign African migrants fled their war-torn societies and settled in South Africa. Thereafter xenophobic discrimination and sporadic violence against foreigners became a common occurrence in South Africa. While South Africa in 1994 experienced a shift from an apartheid-based state to a democratic society, hopes that democratisation would be accompanied by a decline in xenophobic attitudes and practices did not materialise. Instead, attacks on foreign nationals and migrants increased in the post-1994 period and became increasingly violent. In 2008, a series of xenophobic attacks on immigrants broke out in Alexandra, Johannesburg and rapidly spread to other provinces, leading to the death of 62 people including 21 South Africans, 11 Mozambicans, 5 Zimbabweans, and 3 Somalis. Thousands of people were injured and many more were internally or externally displaced. Similarly, in 2015, a wave of anti-immigrant violence swept parts of the city of Durban in KwaZulu Natal and quickly spread to South Africa’s most populous city Johannesburg, resulting in the death of 7 people and the displacement of several thousand more.

After a period of relative calm from 2016 to 2018, in recent years xenophobic attacks on foreigners have again increased in South Africa and Operation Dudula, a self-proclaimed civic movement, has been at the forefront of this upsurge. Operation Dudula (‘dudula’ meaning ‘to force out’ in Zulu) was founded in 2021 in Soweto and wants to achieve a more prosperous and equitable South Africa by removing foreign nationals which it blames for the country’s continued socio-economic problems. To achieve the movement’s aims, members of Operation Dudula target foreign nationals and their businesses and attempt to drive them out by use of violent means. In September 2023, Operation Dudula registered as a political party and voiced its intention to contest the 2024 elections, raising concerns that the recent increase in xenophobic violence could lead to a wider political crisis and undermine social peace by reinforcing existing ethnic and social cleavages.

So far, the South African government’s response to the surge of xenophobic violence has lacked cohesion. In 2019, the South African Cabinet adopted the National Action Plan (NAP), a comprehensive 67-page blueprint for combatting xenophobia, racism, and racial discrimination. Yet, instead of developing policies that address the root causes of xenophobia, reform efforts have focused on strategies that limit the flow of foreign workers and migrants into the country. In November 2023, Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, announced plans for a radical overhaul of the asylum and migration system. These plans include the introduction of a new system of immigration control, a strengthening of border controls, and a review and/or withdrawal from the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol which South Africa, unlike many other countries, acceded to without reservations. If passed, these proposals would greatly affect migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, and make it more difficult for foreign nationals to enter and stay in South Africa.

Image Credits: Mike Hutchings - Reuters | Edited by GorStra Team