As humans, our ancestors all migrated from Africa. Essentially, we are all African. Even Neanderthals came from Africa, long before they were found in Eurasia. We all share a common ancestry. The only two things that separate us, is the pigmentation of our skin due to the biographical location of our ancestors and the line the ancient empires drew on a map, called a country border. As you can see, both pigmentation and borders are illusions of separation. Our blood is red and we are all citizens of earth. We are all humans.
Xenophobia is not unique to South Africa. It’s a global phenomenon that’s happening around the world simultaneously. Only a few weeks ago, we saw the heartless attitude of British government towards the migrants traveling from Africa. The USA is known for its distastefully xenophobic attitude towards Canadians and Mexicans. Israel harbours a loathsome Xenophobic attitude towards those from Arab countries. Hungary is so shamelessly Xenophobic that in April, citizens took a majority vote to have a law immediately implemented banning asylum seekers from seeking refuge.
Albania and Nigeria voted in a survey that 30% of the population did not want people of other races to live in their country. Indonesia, Iran and South Korea are also very unaccommodating to foreigners, as well as Egypt, Vietnam and Rwanda. The illusion of separation is plaguing the world in a way that is harmful, degenerative and dangerous to the wellbeing of all humans collectively.
I’m not here to blame the issue on other nations, but rather to look uniquely at the cause of Xenophobia in South Africa. The structural causes of Xenophobia need be assessed, and this deeply complex issue should not be over simplified. It’s not as basic as pointing a finger and blaming locals of jealously. In order for progression we cannot generalize this national issue.
Xenophobia cannot be blamed on “poor leadership” because Zuma responded excellently to the Xenophobic attacks with to-the-book government protocol, of which he issued a daily statement, cancelled his state visit abroad, visited the refugee camps and asked King Goodwill to rectify his statement which was said to have caused the sudden Xenophobic violence. When we asses the cause of Xenophobia, we need to address the beliefs surrounding the fear citizens have of foreigners, through addressing ways in which we can re-educate citizens on this issue.
When we look at the issue statistically, we see that the Xenophobic attacks where targeted primarily at business owners. In fact, authorities from Mozambique recalled 744 victims of Xenophobia from refugee camps, after which the Mozambican transit centre was subsequently closed. When questioned on why it was closed, the Mozambican authorities stated that there had been no attacks on the 72,000 Mozambicans currently employed at mining companies in South Africa, and therefore they did not feel that the miners are at threat. This points to the fact that Xenophobia is obviously an economic problem at the hands of economic competition between citizens, as the violence is targeted at those who are business owners, not miners as per say.
Aside from immigrants accepting jobs that pay far below the minimum wage, immigrants have earned the reputation of being hardworking, loyal and reliable. Most are just trying to make an honest living, support their families whilst trying to build a better life for themselves. These immigrants face grave exploitation at having to work longer hours, and immigrants who work on farms are often blackmailed being given no wage, in exchange for silence from their “so called” employers. Note that I say "so called", because in most cases said immigrants are deprived of their wages completely, resulting in the modern day slavery we still see in certain areas of the Western Cape specifically.
It would be grossly inaccurate to say that foreigners steal jobs, because although they are willing to work for less income, they are also starting businesses that support our economy, thus providing the economic conditions for the creation of more jobs. In all major studies, it has been proven that immigrants add to the economy constructively, as their will to survive without government help or support fosters business creation, as well as employees providing an excellent standard of work, as they fear losing their jobs.
The question remains, are South Africans willing to work for the same wage and work as hard as their brother from across the border? In majority of cases, no, which is why those positions were given to their foreign compatriots. So is it really fair then, to support the narrative from the communities that state jobs are being "stolen" when that is in fact, not the case?
Of course there is retail competition too. Foreign shop owners use syndicates from their home countries to buy in bulk, thus having cheaper costs, attracting more of the public, potentially starving local shops of business. However, the foreign owned shops have been proven to bolster the economy and provide local residents with more affordable prices. However, this does not mean that local shops are unable to make profit too.
South Africa is not in a first world situation where there are too many shops or two competing shops next to each other. Even with foreign shops, local shops should still be able to generate enough income, bearing in mind that foreigners typically take out less from government, because they are not able to receive government grants and welfare support.
In addition, they are usually supporting family members who also immigrated to South Africa whom are unemployed. In many instances, foreigners are not accepted into larger communities, therefore being starved of community support as well. Whilst locals are able to work through their local networks, sharing food, opportunities and resources, foreigners do not share those advantages. Locals have many resources that foreigners do not have access to, yet if locals and foreigners were to work together, the result economically speaking could be tremendous.
Instead, locals have chosen to spread hate speech against foreigners thus damaging the reputation of South Africa, causing foreign investors to be weary, which impacts the economy, reducing the jobs that are available as potential investors withdraw. The end result, is that Xenophobia does not create the conditions for more jobs, but in actual fact, Xenophobia hinders job creation, and thus destabilizes our economy, impacting everyone, including locals.
You see, if South African society is prepared to work together with immigrants, we can start integrating and utilizing skills in a powerful way to build the economy together. South Africans need to understand that South Africa does not belong to South Africa. South Africa belongs to Africa. Africa is the home of everyone. These borders, are lines on a map. These skin colors are variations of the sun intensity the sky. Perceived separation is just an illusion. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Chelsea Lotz
