Xenophobia in South Africa: A History

156 Pages·2018·1.92 MB·English

by  Hashi Kenneth Tafira (auth.)

AFRICAN HISTORIES AND
MODERNITIES
Series Editors: Toyin Falola and
Matthew M. Heaton
XENOPHOBIA IN
SOUTH AFRICA
A History
Hashi Kenneth Tafi ra
African Histories and Modernities
Series Editors
Toyin Falola
University of Texas
Austin, Texas, USA
Matthew M. Heaton
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, USA
This book series serves as a scholarly forum on African contributions to and
negotiations of diverse modernities over time and space, with a particular
emphasis on historical developments. Specifically, it aims to refute the hege-
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encompass the globe over the last several decades. Indeed, rather than
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which our changing understandings of modernity in the present
havethecapacitytoaffectthewaywethinkaboutAfricanandglobalhistories.
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AderonkeAdesanya,ArtHistory,JamesMadisonUniversity
KwabenaAkurang-Parry,History,ShippensburgUniversity
SamuelO.Oloruntoba,History,UniversityofNorthCarolina,Wilmington
TylerFleming,History,UniversityofLouisville
Barbara Harlow, English and Comparative Literature, University of Texas at
Austin
EmmanuelMbah,History,CollegeofStatenIsland
AkinOgundiran,AfricanaStudies,UniversityofNorthCarolina,Charlotte
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Hashi Kenneth Ta ra
Xenophobia
in South Africa
A History
HashiKennethTafira
Johannesburg,SouthAfrica
AfricanHistoriesandModernities
ISBN978-3-319-67713-2 ISBN978-3-319-67714-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67714-9
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P
REFACE
How were the black subject and black subjectivities produced? How did a
colonisedself-hatingbeingemerge?Abeingthatisnotonlyself-hating,but
hates another that looks like them. These foundational questions need
profound answers. The overarching concern of this book is a phenomenon
termed xenophobia which I prefer to describe as intra-black-racism/black-
on-black-racism which has haunted postapartheid black communities. The
so-calledxenophobiaisnotapostapartheidaberration.Ithasitsrootsdeepin
the colonial contact. But whatdoescolonial contactentail? To have a deep
comprehension of this latter question one needs to take a historical tour.
Colonial contact is a process brought about by, and an integral part of,
colonial modernity from at least the fifteenth century. When one unpacks
thecontentsofcolonialcontactthenalifetimestoryofdepredation,dismem-
berment, dehumanisation and self-abnegation unravels. Now these are the
techniquesunderpinningcolonialcontact.
VIOLENCE AND BRUTALITY
Colonialismisnotpossiblewithoutemploymentanddeploymentofviolence,
terrorandbrutality.Africanpeopleandallnon-Westernpeoplearewelcom-
ingandhospitablepeople.Europeanstrangersunfaithfullymisconstruedthe
hospitality theyreceived as naivety and weakness and sought toeject indig-
enouspeoplefromtheirlands. Thatcould onlyhappenthroughthesword,
thebarrelofthegunandtrickery.Atthecoreofthisprojectisrabidracism
whichseesotherpeopleasbothsub-humanandnon-humanandonlyfitfor
vii
viii PREFACE
perpetualenslavementandcoercedlabour.Oncetheappellationnon-human
has been fixed, brutalities like genocides, epistemicides, dispossession, rape
and murder and, consequently, colonialism are applied. The violence intro-
duced by colonial conquerors seeps into the being and the psyche of the
colonised.Thatexplainsthebanalblack-on-blackviolencecommoninblack
communities.The2008anti-immigrantviolenceisaccordingtoMngxitama
notfearandhatredof“foreigners”butfearandhatredofblackpeoplewhich
he calls Negrophobia/Afrophobia.1 Thisviolence isa perpetuation ofcolo-
nial and apartheid violence against black people which they have systemati-
cally internalised.2 Mngxitama adds that the security and privilege of
SouthAfricanwhitesandthenewblackeliteisfedbytheeverydaystructural
violenceof poor blacks – who are trapped inthatreality. Infact,whitesare
neverconsideredforeignersbuttourists,investorsandemploymentcreators.
Ironically,SouthAfricanwhiteswhoconstitute10percentofthepopulation
own more than 80 per cent of the country’s wealth. The Johannesburg
township of Alexandra which was the theatre of 2008 anti-immigrant vio-
lenceisonlyafewkilometresfromSandton,therichestsuburbinAfricaand
theepicentreofSouthAfricancapital.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL/MENTAL ENTRAPMENT
Giventhefactthatattemptsatdispossessionandcolonialconquestaremet
with fierce resistance, techniques aimed atsubduing candidates forcoloni-
sation are necessary. These comprise the use of religion, book and
inferiorisation. The colonial subject is made to feel and believe in their
own inferiority; that they are inadequate and that they are not even fully
human. This inferiority is interiorised and stays in the psyche of the
colonised for generations. Mental colonisation often produces multiple
ripple effects. These include colourism, black-on-black violence and other
malaise plaguing black communities. Indeed a black subject sees another
blackasamortalfoe,arivalandacompetitorwhoatcertaincircumstances
must be verbally and physically assailed, expelled and eliminated. Here
Mngxitama’s analysis is revealing: colonialism was crucial in creating a
black subject preoccupied with labour, jobs and seeking employment at
thewhiteman’semployandcontentwithscramblingforcrumbsfromthe
whiteman’stable.3
PREFACE ix
DIVISION, DISUNITY AND COLONISATION
One of colonialism’s successful techniques has been divide and rule, often
based on artificially imposed differences. The ethnic factor, for example,
which has come to haunt postcolonial societies, is itself a refraction of
colonial creation. In any case it is necessary for colonialism to pit one
group ofpeople against another and,inturn,toplace the blameon them.
Thisintra-blacktension,quarrelsandviolenceisregardedasnormaltoand
constituentoftheAfricannature.
Pioneersoftheliberationstrugglesawtheperilsofdivisionandsoughtto
unite the people under the banner of African nationalism. A xenophobe,
whoalsohappenstobeathoroughbredtribalist,behavesandactscontrary
to the humane precepts which African humanism professes. Azanian
Pan-AfricanistMangalisoRobertSobukwecalledforcreationoftheUnited
States of Africa which symbolises African unity, erases racialism, tribalism,
imperialism and colonialism.4 The success of a liberated African nation
hinges on loyalty to one African nation, from Cape to Cairo, Madagascar
toMorocco,whereethnicandnational groupsaresubsumed.5Africanists,
according to Sobukwe, do not subscribe to the idea of South African
exceptionalism because South Africa is part of the indivisible whole of
Africa. Arguing against multiracialism, Sobukwe insisted that it fostered
and maintained group exclusiveness.6 As a negation to democracy, multi-
racialism“impliesthattherearesuchbasicinsuperabledifferencesbetween
various national groups here that the best course is to keep them perma-
nently distinctive in a kind of democratic apartheid. That to us isracialism
multiplied,whichprobablyiswhatthetermconnotes.”7
Despite these noble efforts the spectre of ethnicism and differences
haunted the liberation movement. In South Africa, the African National
Congressof1912,theUnityMovement,theCongressYouthledbyAnton
Lembede,thePanAfricanistCongressofAzaniaandtheBlackConscious-
nessMovementsoughttofosteraBlackSolidarityasanantidotetocolonial
artificial differences. The idea, of course, was to infuse nationalism to
override tribal traditions and inculcate pride in the black subject and instil
humanity in them which colonialism usurped. The effects of colonial dev-
astations are enduring. Colonial rulers’ ideas once etched in the psyche of
thecolonisedaredifficulttoefface.
Theunfortunatetaleofintra-blackracismhauntingpostapartheidblack
communitiesprodsustorevisitthequestionofcolonialismand,ofcourse,
the need for decolonisation. Xenophobia is a colonial construct and a
x PREFACE
derivative of white supremacy. It can only be effectively dealt with by
deconstructing structures and machinations underpinning continued
colonialismwhichmanifestsinanotherguiseanddisguise.
Johannesburg,SouthAfrica HashiKennethTafira
NOTES
1. AndileMngxitama,“BlacksareKwerekwereWhitesareTourists,”NewFrank
Talk7,November2010.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. R.M. Sobukwe, “One Central Government in Africa,” Drum,
November1959.
5. ManifestooftheAfricanistMovement,n.d.
6. Opening Address by R.M. Sobukwe, Inaugural Convention of the Pan
AfricanistCongressofAzania,4–6April1959.
7. Ibid.