Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Definitions
3. Causes of Xenophobia
a. Climate of xenophobia in South Africa
b. Culture of violence
c. Frustrated South Africa communities
d. Xenophobia Denialism
4. Explanation of Xenophobia
a. The scapegoating hypothesis of xenophobia
b. The isolation hypothesis of xenophobia
c. The bio cultural hypothesis of xenophobia
5. The effects of Xenophobia
6. Conclusion
7. Bibliography

1. Introduction
In the last decade we witnessed the worst kind of xenophobic attacks in South Africa
motivated by believes such as foreigners are criminals or they are stealing work from
South Africans. These violent attacks were mostly in townships and informal
settlements were most of the people living there are living in poverty. Political analysts
and university professors stated that the government had not adequately addressed
economic inequality in South Africa.
Foreign nationals in South Africa have been subject to abuse for years before the
attacks had started, because some of them are not properly documented they have
had situations where the police will take money from them and their human rights have
been violated. Tensions have been high for years before it eventuality led to the
slaughter that we witnessed on our TVs. What made this situation even worse was our
government saying these attacks were caused by criminal elements and not excepting
that xenophobia was a problem at the time.
Xenophobia is not only in South Africa, as we have seen in the past year how Western
countries discriminated against Africans because of the Ebola virus. South Africa is
where it has been more violent than other countries.
2. Definitions
Hate crimes are violent acts directed toward a particular person or members of a group
because they share a different racial, ethnic, religious, or gender characteristic (Siegel
2011: 277). Hate crime violence may be precipitated by immigrant group members
arriving in the community to compete for jobs and housing (Siegel 2010: 77), in South
Africa the perpetrator kept saying this was the reason they were angry at foreigners.
Victims are likely to be from a minority group.
Xenophobia is defined by Boehnke Klaude, cited by the UN, as an attitudinal
orientation of hostility against non-natives in a given population. The term is typically
used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from
oneself (Ilevbare and Adesanya 2008: 199). Xenophobia is fuelled by pre-existing
prejudices which a society has towards migrants.

3. Causes of Xenophobia (Ilevbare and Adesanya 2008: 201)

a. Climate of xenophobia in South Africa
A survey conducted by SAMP it was revealed that one in every ten South African was
likely to turn violent toward foreigners, 25% of South Africans were likely to prevent a
foreigner from opening a business in their area (Crush and Ramachandran 2014: 2).
This shows that our communities are not accepting of foreigners in the country and
goes back to the belief that foreigners are criminals and that they are stealing our jobs.
Looting and vandalism of foreign owned spaza shops have been a common
occurrence in South Africa in the past years. Using derogatory words like
makwerekwere to describe foreigners has been happening since the 1990s and it has
never been addressed.
b. Culture of violence
South Africa is a country that has a history of violence, South Africans are used to
solving their problems with violence. This goes back to years of apartheid where the
people fought because they were not heard. Because this is the way South Africans
have communicated their dissatisfaction over the years it is not surprising that they will
turn to violence again towards foreigners.
c. Frustrated South Africa communities
There are issues in South African communities which have not been addressed over
the years, these include poor service delivery, post-apartheid expectations and
competing for resources and opportunities. These frustrations reached a boiling point
in 2008 when locals attacked foreigners.
d. Xenophobia Denialism
During the 2008 xenophobic attacks the South African government denied that these
attacks were xenophobic in nature, their argument was that these attacks on migrants
were just criminal acts. In 2010 they called these attacks crime of opportunity and
xenophobic in nature. Until the government start taking these attacks seriously in our
country they will continue to happen.

4. Explanation of Xenophobia (Bronwyn Harris 2002)

a. The scapegoating hypothesis of xenophobia
Hostility towards foreigners is caused by limited resources in our country, as a result
people create a target which they can blame for their struggles and unfortunately
foreigners usually become their targets. It becomes easy for South Africans living in
townships and informal settlements to blame foreigners because they live with them.
b. The isolation hypothesis of xenophobia
This hypothesis says that apartheid is the cause for xenophobia in South Africa. During
the apartheid years South Africans were isolated from the outside world, especially
from other Africans and as a results foreign nationals are seen as unknowns by South
Africans. The interactions between previously isolated South Africans and unknown
foreigners creates a space for hostility to develop (Morris, 1998: 1125).
c. The bio cultural hypothesis of xenophobia
Some foreign nationals are easy to identify as foreigners because they are different
from South Africans. During the xenophobic attacks some foreign nationals like people
from Lesotho were not targeted like people from countries like Nigeria or Mozambique.
Things like the physical appearance and language are taken into consideration.
Migrants from Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland are tolerated as they have the same
characteristics as South Africans whereas migrants from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and
Somalia are not so likely. The negative stereotypes when it comes to the other
foreigners is that they are criminals, Nigerians are accused of being drug dealers.
5. The effects of Xenophobia
Since 2008 there have been some attacks happening all over the country. An
estimated 100,000 men, women and children were displaced, 30,000 residential
properties were destroyed, over 600 people were seriously injured and over 60 were
murdered during the 2008 attacks. The police turned a blind eye to the looting that
took place in those attacks. An estimated 120 Somali and 50 Bangladeshi
shopkeepers were killed in townships in 2012 (UNHCR). 62 migrants were murdered
in South Africa during the first six months of 2013 and around 130 separate episodes
of attacks on foreign migrants were reported (UNHCR).

In 2012/2013 Somali shop owners were attacked in towns in Mangaung Metropolitan

Municipality (Bloemfontein, Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu). The attacks started in
Botshabelo and spread to other areas, their shops were looted and they were left
homeless. Most of them took shelter in municipal halls and police stations, they kept
saying that they had nothing left in South Africa and they had nothing waiting for them
back home. In 2012 two Bangladeshi shop owners died when their container was
petrol bombed by a group of people and the entrances were blocked to prevent them
from escaping, this happened in Thokoza.
When these attacks happen foreigners are left without any shelter or food and they
end up depending on NGOs to help them. Like any other victims of violent crimes
foreigners who have been attacked live in fear of the attacks happening again. Some
shop owners have resorted to getting weapons to defend themselves against any
attack and as shown by recent attacks this does not always end well.
The statistics which highlight these violent attacks show that the xenophobic violence
did not end in 2008 and that there as a lot of work that still needs to be done to repair
the damage that is in our communities.
6. Conclusion
Xenophobia in South Africa is something that still needs to be an ongoing discussion.
It will not help if people in higher positions choose to ignore the problem. It is worrying
when leaders like the Zulu king are able to say that foreigners should leave without
any fear, even when foreigners were attacked after he made these statements he was
still not held accountable. It is important to note that our history play a significant part
in how South Africans react to foreigners. When there is poverty and extreme
economic inequality xenophobia is more than likely to emerge.
7. Bibliography
Burns, J.K. 2008. Xenophobia evolved outgroup hatred or product of a toxic social
environment? Volume 14 No. 4 December 2008 SAJP
Crush, J. and Ramachandran, S. 2014. Migrant Entrepreneurship, Collective violence
and Xenophobia in South Africa. SAMP

Crush, J. and Ramachandran, S. 2014. Xenophobic Violence in South Africa:

Denialism, minimalism, realism. SAMP
Hook, D. & Eagle, G. (eds) Psychopathology and Social Prejudice, pp. 169-184, Cape
Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2002. (Xenophobia: A new pathology for a new
South Africa Bronwyn Harris)
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/internationalmigration/glossary/xenophobia/ (Accessed 06 April 2015)
Ilevbare, F.M. and Adesanya, A.A. Xenophobia; a Contemporary Issue in Psychology
Awolowo University, ILE-IFE, NIGERIA
Siegel, J. 2010 CRIMINOLOGY THEORIES, PATTERNS, AND TYPOLOGIES 10th
Edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning