THE word “xenophobia” has become disturbingly familiar since the horrific spate of attacks on African immigrants in 2008.
Such incidents have recurred sporadically in the intervening years despite being condemned across the board, to the point where the most recent annual report of Human Rights Watch, released this week, still saw fit to refer at length to the problem of civilian attacks on foreigners — and the apparent complacency of some local authorities and police. While the majority of South Africans condemn xenophobia, whatever motivates the minority who perpetrate such acts of violence is not being addressed.
The government has been accused of denialism for insisting that many of the attackers are simply criminals who target the vulnerable, rather than xenophobes. Yet there is considerable evidence that criminal opportunism does play a part — looting invariably accompanies attacks on foreign shopkeepers, for example.
The other common explanation is jealousy on the part of South African spaza shop owners, who object to foreign competition. This is supported by research in the Cape Town township of Delft by online economic policy forum econ3x3, which found that foreigners are indeed more successful shopkeepers, implying that economic stress is a factor motivating xenophobic attacks. The researchers found the ownership of Delft’s spazas has shifted almost completely into foreign hands over the past three years, with Somalis dominating. This is important, because apart from the risk of a “significant and lasting negative impact on entrepreneurship” among South Africans, it opens opportunities for the root causes of xenophobia to be addressed.
If the problem is largely cultural — Somalis in particular seem adept at using social networks to cut input costs through group purchasing, cheap labour and financing, and strategic investment in targeted areas, while South Africans tend to operate in silos — part of the solution is surely education.
This is an ideal opportunity for the Department of Economic Development to prove its relevance through a countrywide training and networking programme for spaza shop owners — and for an enterprising grocery chain to invest in the future by forging links with the informal sector.
WHERE THERE’S SMOKE: A trash container smoulders in Diepsloot in May 2013 after several foreign shop owners had their stores looted following a shooting incident. Picture: THE TIMES
THE word “xenophobia” has become disturbingly familiar since the horrific spate of attacks on African immigrants in 2008.
Such incidents have recurred sporadically in the intervening years despite being condemned across the board, to the point where the most recent annual report of Human Rights Watch, released this week, still saw fit to refer at length to the problem of civilian attacks on foreigners — and the apparent complacency of some local authorities and police. While the majority of South Africans condemn xenophobia, whatever motivates the minority who perpetrate such acts of violence is not being addressed.
The government has been accused of denialism for insisting that many of the attackers are simply criminals who target the vulnerable, rather than xenophobes. Yet there is considerable evidence that criminal opportunism does play a part — looting invariably accompanies attacks on foreign shopkeepers, for example.
The other common explanation is jealousy on the part of South African spaza shop owners, who object to foreign competition. This is supported by research in the Cape Town township of Delft by online economic policy forum econ3x3, which found that foreigners are indeed more successful shopkeepers, implying that economic stress is a factor motivating xenophobic attacks. The researchers found the ownership of Delft’s spazas has shifted almost completely into foreign hands over the past three years, with Somalis dominating. This is important, because apart from the risk of a “significant and lasting negative impact on entrepreneurship” among South Africans, it opens opportunities for the root causes of xenophobia to be addressed.
If the problem is largely cultural — Somalis in particular seem adept at using social networks to cut input costs through group purchasing, cheap labour and financing, and strategic investment in targeted areas, while South Africans tend to operate in silos — part of the solution is surely education.
This is an ideal opportunity for the Department of Economic Development to prove its relevance through a countrywide training and networking programme for spaza shop owners — and for an enterprising grocery chain to invest in the future by forging links with the informal sector.
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