The Post-Apartheid Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa: A Reflection on Government Interferences

Critiquing Ndlovu's (2014) theorisation of South Africa's ‘exceptionalism’ and ‘xenophobia’ in minister Fikile Mbalula’s speech: an essay

“…From the historical Afro-American exclusions and modern politics of racial and religious hatred common during the Donald Trump administration in the United States (US) which celebrated intended removal of all Mexicans and Muslims in the country in Trump's political rhetoric, Black-white dichotomous confrontational relations in South Africa sponsored by racialism and incidences of discrimination against aboriginal peoples of Australia, the Israeli-Palestine tensions, discrimination against and persecution of the Rohingya peoples in Rakhine, Myanmar, the Biafran ethnic war in Nigeria, the racial killing of George Floyd in the United States (US), the 'xenophobic' stabbing to death of the Mozambican national Emmanuel Sithole in Alexandra township, Johannesburg in April 2015 and related stories of violence against immigrant nationals reported earlier in May 2008, the racist chants against Mario Balotelli in the Italian Serie A football league and the many similar incidences in European football, the cropping of a picture to exclude Vanessa Nakate the Black Ugandan environmental activist from a group of white conference participants by a global environmental organisation and the anti-immigrant sentiments in Denmark anchored on the support of the country's right-wing populist, anti-immigrant Danish People's Party which resulted in political change of government in the 2001 elections (Durokifa & Ijeoma, 2017;Mafukata, 2021;Romero, 2018;Roemer & Van der Straeten, 2006) the world demonstrates intense struggles in human relations. The strained relations manifest through apartheid, racism, xenophobia, religious discrimination, and so forth.…”

Anti-immigrant Violence and Xenophobia in South Africa: Untreated Malady and Potential Snag for National Development

“…On the question of government intervention in mitigating the trends of xenophobic violence in South Africa, this study shows that the efforts of South African government, political and community leaders have not been clearly defined and productive. This is evident upon the South African government poor response to the xenophobic violence, which has been more of political propaganda to suit and favour their citizens at the detriment of foreign nationals (see also Durokifa and Ijeoma 2017; Masikane et al 2020). In the same vein, government seems to gloss over any issues that concern xenophobic attacks (Jonathan and Sujata 2014).…”

“…A number of sources have raised concerns on South African xenophobia as post-apartheid anti-immigrant violent reaction that accompanied the emergence of democratic hegemony launched in the country in 1994 (Carien 2009; Cornish 2015; Misago 2009; Wicks 2015). Xenophobic violence in South Africa has been exacerbated with high number of death tolls recorded against the foreign immigrants in provinces, such as Gauteng, Western Cape, Free State and Limpopo; but heightened in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) region of the country in recent time (Durokifa and Ijeoma 2017; Landau 2012; Mutanda 2017; Tarisayi and Manik 2020; Tella 2016).…”

A white theologian learning how to fall upward

“…which Mbembe (2015) alludes relates to the necrophiliac power structure that totalises black life as fungibility and accumulation that is emblematised by whiteness. Not unrelatedly, the recurring attacks on African nationals demonstrate how easily the frustration and anger of South Africans -for which there is no justification, but there appears to be a multifaceted explanation (Durokifa & Ijeoma 2017;Masuku 2019) -can be subjected to a scapegoat mechanism. Stemming from structural xenophobia, such outbursts of Afrophobic violence on the part of South African black people, who seem to 'believe they are the whitest of all the Blacks of Africa' (Maluleke 2016), bear witness to the fact that post-1994 South Africa continues to grapple with its own relationship with the rest of the continent.…”