Xenophobia in South Africa

Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange".

While unnecessary violence, and as such Xenophobic violence, should never be tolerated or be acceptable, is Xenophobia without the violence  in South Africa really justified.

Why would South Africans hate foreigners?

When we take a street look at South Africa and just how much it has changed since the ANC came to power, we start to get a real look into the cause of the Xenophobia that exists.

South Africa has suddenly become the home to millions upon millions of migrants from the rest of Africa as well as places like China, who are seeking a new and prosperous life. The seemingly prosperous South Africa with it's wide open arms has welcomed these people into the land and these very people are draining the already strained job market causing wide spread unemployment to the locals.

Looking at industries such as the construction industry, it is alarming to see just how many non South Africans are employed. The immigrants, many illegal, are often seen by unscrupulous employers to be harder and cheaper workers and as such are employed in huge numbers while our locals are jobless.

In the retail sector you need only take a look at the local store owners in order to see just how bad the situation really is. Small towns which previously had maybe 10 to 20 small stores run by locals now find that as many as 80% of these small stores are now occupied by foreign owners.

Worsening the situation is the fact that these foreign small businesses seldom employ any local workers and if they do it is usually under the worst working conditions possible.

Primarily these stores and small businesses are used as a means for their friends and family from foreign countries to gain entry into S.A. Business owners are allowed to bring fellow country men out to the country on valid working permits as long as there is no one suitable to fill the vacancy from S.A.

Jobs are advertised in the local papers with a strict requirement that the applicant must be able to fluently speak the owners language such as Chinese. Naturally there are few South Africans that are fluent in Chinese and so within a month or two we have a new "legal"  work permit issued and more foreigners coming into the country.

Small retail in S.A is foreign owned

Small retail is the backbone of a thriving economy. These small retail stores, especially the Spaza stores in the townships, often are the sole means of support for some families. When these stores are taken over by foreign owners with minimal overheads then the sole income of many locals is negatively affected and again we have a rise in unemployment.

It is no wonder that much of the Xenophobic violence experienced in South Africa is vented out upon the small spaza shops in the townships. The locals in the townships realise that these foreign owned spaza shops are draining the life from their own people.

Conclusion 

If South Africa wishes to eradicate Xenophobia and wishes to return to being a thriving economy then the ANC has to take a serious look at the policies that allow millions of foreigners to flood across our borders each year.

While foreigners are replacing our local work force and draining our economy instead of being used to merely supplement weak areas there will always be fuel for increased Xenophobia and xenophobic attacks.