Organising Somalian, Congolese and Rwandan Migrants in a Time of Xenophobia in South Africa: Empirical and Methodological Reflections

Abstract

Xenophobic practices pervade civil society and the state in South Africa. But its victims are not passive. Academic scholarship has not sufficiently recognised the multiple roles of refugees and asylum seekers migrant organisations in a context where refugees are required to Bself-settle". The dominant methodological focus of existing research has been on the migrant as the individual. This paper's main research objectives are to question this focus and examine evidence of the collective responses to struggles faced by foreign African migrants and refugee groups in Cape Town. Eleven refugee and asylum seeker associations formed by Somalians, Congolese and Rwandan asylum seekers and refugees were investigated, based on extensive interviews with 11 leaders of refugee organisations. These organisations not only strongly defend migrant interests but also project a long-term view of integration into South African society. In addition, the paper concludes by arguing for a shift in the focus of research in order to show that migrant organisations are crucial in an individual's collective security concerns, in advocacy with government institutions and in initiatives to build relationships with South Africans.

Environmental Justice and Dissent for Postcolonial Urban Sustainability Transitions

“…This perception reflects a common belief that government cannot or does not care, despite its very own legislative duty of care imposed by the National Environmental Management Act of 1998. Xenophobic tensions are not endemic to the informal settlement in this case (Uwimpuhwe and Ruiters, 2018) and the scale of true inward migration is unknown. However, the national population has simultaneously grown from 40 to 60 million (UN, 2019) and economic outlooks and inequality have generally worsened since 1994 (Mohamed, 2020).…”

Capital’s Preference for Foreign African Labour in South Africa: Reflections on Liberal Anti-xenophobia Research

“…Uwimphuwe and Ruiters (2018) have highlighted immigrant organisations' roles in bridging networks, i.e., finding ways to work with South Africans and see the other side's viewpoint. Immigrant organisations' leaders navigate a dialectic of closure and openness (Werbner 1999, p. 29) trying to avoid the negative effects of inward-looking, 'bonding' networks or negative social capital (Portes 1998).…”

Precarity, Permits, and Prayers: “Working Practices” of Congolese Asylum-Seeking Women in Cape Town

“…With expired permits, these individuals are unemployable, “resulting in people being unable to have access [to] banking, education, health care, services renewals, lease agreements, losing jobs and … new arrivals [being put] at risk of deportation and detention because their permits do not reflect that they have been extended” (Washinyira, 2021). Such temporary permits are structurally linked with systemic harm and the production of stateless persons, and they shape the everyday lives of asylum seekers in South Africa in more challenging ways as well (Uwimpuhwe and Ruiters, 2018: 1132), with only five per cent of registered applications for asylum being successful (Mpeiwa, 2018). The process of renewal is labourious and challenging, as Vince of PASSOP elaborates:Following the closure of the Cape Town office in 2012, those who came to Cape Town after 2012 had to go to Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth to start the process.…”

“…However, her concern for her safety was preoccupying in the context of ambient xenophobia. Despite rentals being three times more expensive in the former white suburbs of Cape Town, Tété, like many migrants and asylum seekers, was willing to trade the relatively inexpensive rents in the township for higher ones in the suburbs to avoid possible localised xenophobic attacks and to organise effective forms of self-protection (Uwimpuhwe and Ruiters, 2018: 1131). By 2008, Tété had saved a small sum and she and her family moved out of the township to the suburb of Salt River, where she started petty trading.…”