OPINION

A violent xenophobia for a violent nation

Morris Madzime writes that the attacks are buoyed up by a deep underlying culture of violence

The context of xenophobia in South Africa

Xenophobia is defined as “dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries” and when it comes to this, South Africans are not unique. In his book on the subject, Nyamnjoh demonstrated that xenophobia is a global phenomenon1. We have seen the rise accompanied by strengthening of anti-immigration political parties in Europe2-6 and closer home, Botswana is experiencing a rise in expressions of xenophobia7. The spy agencies in USA and in Europe use spying tools some of which are dripping in xenophobia8. South Africans do not hold a monopoly in this and when xenophobia is stripped down to it basic meaning, human beings are probably all xenophobic.

More tellingly, the dislike of none-self (xenophobia) is a natural phenomenon that is found even in ecology where introduced species are confronted by native species9. Our immune system is an instrument used by our bodies in their xenophobic attacks on xeno-particles in the form of pathogens10. This natural xenophobic tendency is a source of frustration to transplantation immunologists in which case transplants are rejected by host cells10. Humanity is not alone in the tendency to dislike none-self.

The context of xenophobia varies from country to country1 though and it is the South African context that makes it look like xenophobia per se is a uniquely South African problem. In a 1995 study, Gilbert notes that South Africa (SA) is a particularly violent society11. We must understand that xenophobia in SA happens within a context of a country that is particularly violent11.

Personally, I have been in SA for about 10 years and I have witnessed violence of a nature that I had never witnessed in eight other Southern African countries (my own country included). The violent nature of SA is very real and easily noticeable to people who lived in countries that are less violent. It is probably noticeable even to South Africans themselves some of whom have lived in other countries and/or do business (work) in other countries now.

On a certain day in 2011 in Thaba-Nchu I passed by a bus rank and witnessed learners, I had just given a weekend class, fighting using all sorts of tools. People were just standing by and police were nowhere (the police station is probably a kilometer from the bus rank). I was so shocked and thought of intervening I was pulled back by good hearted learners who told me that they would turn on me and my help would be futile. They went on to tell me that it is normal for boys from villages to fight like that, especially during month-ends; this was confirmed by others I knew in Thaba-Nchu. Several boys were injured that day and the following day I was told, in another class, that one of them had died. On further inquiries I was told that the young boys were fighting over a girl.

Just last year I called a friend of mine who is a Principal, just to say hello. He said he was at a funeral of a learner who was stabbed to death by his brother. While I was still in shock that kids still in school and in a small town called Hertzgoville can be brave enough to kill, he said they were fighting over R5 if not R2. One day, I was in Kroonstad and went to buy food late at night, I witnessed a man being killed over a bottle of beer. A colleague of mine who is from Kroonstad told me that what I witnessed is nothing new in Kroonstad. He went on to narrate a case where a bar attender was short and wounded because he had not replayed a song that the shooter had requested. The list of life terminating/threatening fights I witnessed is endless across all the places I lived that count no less than five across three provinces.

Just a few weeks back in the small town of Hoopstad where I now work, one boy poisoned a girl to death; the girl was his girlfriend and it is said the girl wanted out of the relationship. In this small town I experience the reality that young girls live in perpetual fear of their boyfriends. Some even fail to pitch for extra classes because they are afraid to miss appointments with their boyfriends who threated to beat them for preferring to attend classes instead of meeting them. I was even threatened by two boys one day simply because I was going to offer an extra class. The boys said they don’t have time with their girls anymore because of these extra classes.

These sort of violent encounters over the most illogical reasons are not uncommon in SA’s rural and townships communities; at least from my personal experience. In other countries it is expected, in fact, honorable to stop people who are fighting but in SA doing so may get you killed. While political violence is known to other Southern African countries like Zimbabwe12, it is unthinkable that a person can be killed for R5 or R2, or for a girl or for a bottle of beer or that young boys can be so violent as to threaten girl children’s education. By any stretch of imagination, human mundane disagreements cannot end in death in comparable communities in other Southern African countries.

In this context we can now relook at xenophobia, especially the recent occurrences in Durban and surrounding areas (spreading to other cities as I write). I contend that the violence we see with xenophobic attacks is in line with the day to day violence in SA. While xenophobia is not unique to SA, it is the violence that sets it apart. In July 2014, outraged Pongola community members vandalized and burnt down a church and later some burnt a courthouse over a boy’s body parts found in the church13, 14. There was not enough information to tell the full story14 but a whole community went on the rampage. This compares well to what we see with xenophobic attacks and the same can be said of the burning of six houses including a mayor’s house in Bloemhof in April 201415.

All anti-xenophobia activists, the government and progressive people in and out of SA may need to be seized with the very idea of violence in South African societies. Xenophobic attacks are buoyed by a culture of violence which is a unique South African phenomenon in Southern Africa.

If the culture of violence is not dealt with, xenophobic attacks will always be replayed. More worryingly, other issues may also become significant enough to trigger violence. It is very critical to understand that the South Africans involved in xenophobic attacks at the moment are not violent now because they are xenophobic rather they are violent in their expression of xenophobia because they are particularly violent. The long term solution to xenophobic attacks has to be located in correcting the violent nature of some of South African societies.

References

1. Nyamnjoh, FB (2006). Insiders and outsiders: citizenship and xenophobia in contemporary Southern Africa. Zed Books.

2. Betz, H-G (1993). The new politics of resentment: Radical right-wing populist parties in Western Europe. Comparative Politics, 413-427.

3. Knigge, P (1998). The ecological correlates of right-wing extremism in Western Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 34, 249-279.

4. Ivarsflaten, E (2008). What unites right-wing populists in Western Europe? Re-examining grievance mobilization models in seven successful cases. Comparative Political Studies, 41, 3-23.

5. Bornschier, S (2010). Cleavage politics and the populist right: the new cultural conflict in Western Europe. Temple University Press Philadelphia.

6. Boomgaarden, HG and Vliegenthart, R (2007). Explaining the rise of anti-immigrant parties: The role of news media content. Electoral studies, 26, 404-417.

7. Dube, M. (2014). Botswana being taken over by creeping xenophobia despite govt ‘compassionate’ policy. URL: [18-04-2015].

8. Cohn, WA (2010). Targeting Terror. The New Presence, 59-72.

9. Simberloff, D (2003). Confronting introduced species: a form of xenophobia? Biological Invasions, 5, 179-192.

10. Parham, P (2014). The immune system. Garland Science.

11. Gilbert, L (1996). Urban violence and health—South Africa 1995. Social science & medicine, 43, 873-886.

12. LeBas, A (2006). Polarization as craft: party formation and state violence in Zimbabwe. Comparative Politics, 419-438.

13. eNCA. (2014). Pongola residents torch courthouse. URL: [18-04-2015].

14. iOLnews. (2014). Pongola residents threaten revenge. URL: [18-04-2015].

15. Mail & Guardian. (2014). Six houses burned down in protesting Boitumelong. URL: [18-04-2015].

© Morris Madzime

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter