Why xenophobia?

It is encouraging that the South African Police Services and government are taking appropriate action on violence against foreign nationals, even deploying the military to trouble hotspots. While no amount of engagement will preclude isolated attacks, the threat of violence spreading countrywide as it did in May 2008 seems to be containable.

Likewise, the response of many South Africans in protecting foreigners from attacks, even at the risk of sustaining personal harm themselves, must be highlighted and commended.

We must expect the threat to remain ever-present. Indeed, violence against foreigners—what we commonly label “xenophobia”—has been a feature of South African life since the 1990s. It will not disappear until living conditions in areas where such attacks occur are markedly improved.

It serves no purpose for politicians to downplay threats of violence with references to rumours, never mind making paranoid statements about these being spread to “discredit” the government. Attacks against foreigners did not dissipate with the end of the 2008 pogroms; indeed, isolated incidents were being perpetrated even during the World Cup.

The attacks are rooted in poverty, not invariably hatred of foreigners. Seen this way, the terminology of xenophobia—the fear or hatred of foreigners—is deceptive. Foreign nationals are targeted because they are the weakest link in a contest for scarce resources, such as jobs, housing and services.

It also seems evident that criminal elements are leeching off that discontent, fuelling and exploiting the fires of discontent directed at foreigners.

Yet, when random strangers of foreign extraction are being abused at taxi ranks or are thrown off moving trains, it is difficult to exclude prejudice and bigotry as motivating factors.

We may debate to what extent the manifestation of violence against foreigners is attributable to poverty or genuine xenophobia—but whatever the reasons, there can be no justification. There is no legitimate cause for breaking the law. Nothing can excuse murdering or injuring others, violating their dignity and dispossessing them of home and livelihood. Indeed, most impoverished South Africans do not participate in mob violence.

Still, the causes for the violence must be studied, examined and understood if we want to address them. How do the competition for jobs and housing, inadequate access to services, lack of transformation and the prejudiced demagogy interrelate? Who or what is providing the terms of reference for bigotry and targeted violence? We need a better analysis than the convenient but imprecise shorthand of “xenophobia”.

Moreover, the excess of violence in the displacement of foreign nationals (and in the commission of other crimes, including vigilantism) needs to be better understood and addressed.

In the meantime, government and civil society must be forthright in their condemnation of mob violence against foreigners, and proactive in preventing them. The Catholic Church has done admirable work in that field.

Aside from appealing to the maintenance of the law and Gospel values, those inclined to target foreign nationals must be persuaded that their pretexts for doing so are invalid.

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg has rightly pointed out: “Current evidence suggests that the foreign-born are no more likely to be involved in crime as any other part of the population, and that they are generally more likely to create employment opportunities rather than take away employment.”

There can be no justification or tolerance for mob violence, whatever the context. Our solidarity must be with the victims of xenophobic violence and those who stand with them.

We may be spared a reprise of the 2008 pogroms, but every individual attack on a foreigner represents an indelible stain on our nation.