Introduction
When the Nigerian journalist Patrick Egwu first visited South Africa amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he noticed a pervasive atmosphere of resentment and hatred directed at migrants from other African countries. Under the guise of controlling the virus’ spread, the South African government shut down immigrant-owned shops without offering any alternative assistance. The government also deported and detained migrants in refugee and asylum centers. While xenophobia has intensified in South Africa during COVID-19, it is by no means a new phenomenon in the country.
On the contrary, xenophobia has a long and bloody history in post-apartheid South Africa. It is not a static phenomenon: social media has enabled anti-immigrant movements to reach larger audiences, harass migrants digitally, and organize across geographic boundaries. As elections approach in South Africa, xenophobic political rhetoric has intensified through online anti-immigrant movements like Operation Dudula and Put South Africans First. Without long-term strategies against the proliferation of hate speech and a pervasive anti-immigrant discourse, violence against migrants will be a hindrance to the socio-economic transformation of South African society.
Xenophobic Violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Xenophobia in South Africa stands out for its particularly violent nature. According to Witwatersrand University’s Xenowatch, xenophobic attacks resulted in 669 deaths, 5,310 looted shops, and 127,572 displacements between 1994 and March 2024. In May 2008, attacks took place in at least 135 locations across the country. The perpetrators of such attacks did not target white people but rather migrants from other African countries and to a lesser degree from South Asian countries, whom they blamed for increased crime and the high unemployment rate in South Africa.
A significant proportion of both perpetrators and victims of xenophobic violence come from marginalized communities with attacks clustering in townships and informal settlements. Inadequate housing and service provision combined with widespread unemployment, poverty, and crime in these communities provide fertile grounds for vigilante violence against migrants.
COVID-19 and Endemic Xenophobia in South Africa
While vigilante violence is one way in which xenophobia manifests itself, it is also expressed through discriminatory state policies and rhetoric. In particular, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown exacerbated the existing vulnerabilities of migrants in the country. Migrants were overlooked in government efforts to mitigate the harms of lockdown measures. They were also denied access to government relief schemes, such as food parcels and vouchers under the Social Relief of Distress Grant. Many politicians overtly implied that it was more important to protect South Africans from COVID-19 than migrants. Their advocacy for reduced refugee rights and xenophobic policies found an apt platform in the pandemic mitigation efforts.
One of the government’s first measures to contain COVID-19 was to build a 40km fence worth 37 million rand on the border with Zimbabwe to prevent any “infected or undocumented person” from entering the country. This came at a time when there were 1,845 confirmed cases in South Africa, the highest number of infections in Africa, while Zimbabwe only had eleven confirmed cases. The border closure is a striking example of the vigorous nationalist impulses that shaped South Africa’s COVID-19 response. This measure did not follow any evidence but instead nurtured the myth of migrants as dangerous carriers of disease.
To support their anti-immigrant policies, politicians and other officials used the pandemic to mobilize the population against migrants, especially Africans. They portrayed immigrants as invaders who plundered scarce resources, alienating South Africans in their own country. Immigrants were also associated with images of disease and pollution. Then-Minister of Small Business Development Khumbudzo Ntshavheni justified the closure of foreign-owned Spaza shops—small businesses catering to township residents—on the grounds of quality assurance. Her comments amplified existing myths of fake goods and poisoned food being sold by migrant businesses.
The Birth of Anti-Immigrant Online Movements
The fear of resource scarcity, exacerbated by the pandemic, contributed to an increasing normalization of anti-immigrant views. Online groups espousing these views started gaining traction and organized street protests against migrants. Townships like Alexandra or Katlehong were soon rife with xenophobic rhetoric and sentiments.
The Put South Africans First movement emerged on Twitter during the early lockdown period. On April 27, 2020, anti-immigrant hashtags flooded South African cyberspace with the hashtag ‘Put South Africa First’ being used over 16,000 times in a single day. In September 2020, a public march to the Nigerian and Zimbabwean embassies demanded the deportation of their nationals. This march was organized through Twitter under the hashtags ‘23SeptemberCleanSA’ and ‘ForeignersMustGo’. By 2021, the vigilante movement and now political party, called Operation Dudula (meaning “Pushback” in isiZulu), was formed in Soweto. On June 16, 2021, Operation Dudula launched a campaign called “Let’s Clean Soweto” to rid the township of “illegal migrants,”’ drug dealers, and foreign business owners, targeting and evicting migrants from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as well as local South Africans who were wrongly identified as foreign nationals.
Anti-immigrant movements like Operation Dudula and Put South Africa First are rooted in the fear that migrants from other African countries could marginalize South Africans on their own land. They call for the mass deportation of foreigners to restore the dignity of South Africans. South Africans, in turn, must reclaim the jobs, housing, education, and healthcare that rightfully belong to them.
The emergence of Put South Africans First and Operation Dudula also indicate a shift in the way in which anti-immigrant campaigns are organized in South Africa. They were almost exclusively and deliberately organized on social media in contrast to previous anti-immigrant protests that were typically spontaneous responses to real or rumored incidents involving migrants in townships. These organizations have attempted to bridge online and offline spaces in their mobilizations against migrants and create professional networks that cross geographic boundaries.
Social media platforms play a key role in amassing support for anti-immigrant online movements that cut across townships. Facebook and Twitter are used as propaganda tools for nationalist and xenophobic views, which can reach millions of users. Due to their accessibility and ease of use, these platforms allow common citizens to organize and participate in mass xenophobia, including marches and violent attacks. Private online messaging platforms like WhatsApp have also created echo chambers where users share discriminatory stories and conspiracies about migrants. As South Africa’s elections approach, it is more important than ever to take anti-immigrant rhetoric, fake news, and online hate speech against migrants seriously.
The May 2024 Elections and Party-Political Xenophobia
On May 29, 2024, South Africans will head to the polls for the sixth round of democratic elections since the country gained independence in 1994. A majority of South Africans are disillusioned with the status quo amid worsening socio-economic conditions, including regular power cuts, rising unemployment, poor service delivery, and widespread poverty. Consequently, polls suggest that the ruling ANC party could lose its majority for the first time since 1994.
Similar to the 2019 national elections, the 2024 pre-election period has been rife with xenophobic statements from most political parties. Taking advantage of local communities’ desperation, politicians are shifting blame onto those who have no voice, blaming foreigners for many of South Africa’s social ills. In contrast to previous elections, political parties are not shying away from promises of denying migrants equal rights and facilitating their deportation.
Operation Dudula has emerged as a single-issue party whose members have actively participated in vigilante violence against migrants. In early January 2024, members of Operation Dudula and the Patriotic Alliance party went to the Beitbridge border post with Zimbabwe, some armed with guns, to prevent Zimbabweans without valid documents from entering the country. Videos of the vigilantes went viral, and xenophobic hashtags supporting their efforts surged on social media platforms.
Moving Forward
There are no quick fixes to the entrenched problem of xenophobia in South Africa. Few policies have been successfully implemented to date. Moving forward, combating xenophobia will require combined efforts and interventions at multiple levels. In the immediate run-up to the upcoming elections, politicians across the political spectrum should refrain from spreading disinformation, perpetuating lies, and scapegoating migrants for existing problems. Existing rhetoric threatens to mislead voters, undermine the integrity of elections, and incite further violence against migrants.
In the short and long term, South Africa must develop strategies that reject the country’s pervasive anti-immigrant discourse and address the proliferation of hate speech and harassment of migrants in cyberspace. These strategies should encourage government funding to NGOs and civil society initiatives fighting xenophobia, such as Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX) or Abahlali baseMjondolo.
Furthermore, the government must end the impunity of online hate speech by making the prosecution of perpetrators easier. The passing of the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill in March 2023 is a first step in this direction. The state must also ensure better protection for those affected by online hate speech. It must establish a nationwide network of specialized advisory centers as well as trained and sensitized police departments that take those affected by cyberhate seriously.
However, even if these focused initiatives are successful, only a radically transformative agenda can effectively eradicate entrenched xenophobia in South Africa. Xenophobia and violence against migrants will not completely end without a deep-seated socio-economic transformation. This transformation must address the country’s enormous inequalities and breathe new life into the fading promise of a better life for all who live in South Africa.
We must recognize that anti-immigrant policies and violence will not resolve any of the varied problems South Africa is currently facing. On the contrary, these phenomena constitute a pervasive crisis that exacerbates existing problems by creating new fault lines, divisions, and pain in society. Indeed, xenophobia undermines South Africa’s post-apartheid dream of an inclusive non-racial democracy.
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Bastien Dratwa is a PhD student in International Criminology at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and a member of the Macro-Violence Research Group at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. In his dissertation, he studies two recently formed anti-immigrant movements in South Africa through an ethnographic lens. His research interests include the sociology of violence, xenophobia, narrative criminology, and the afterlife of colonialism.
Image Credit: NDLA
