Dr Amanuel Isak Tewolde
When it comes to relations between South African citizens and migrant communities, there is no a one-size-fits-all explanation; instead the reality on the ground is more complex and multisided: there is widespread xenophobia in South Africa and there is widespread xenophilia. The term “xenophilia” means “welcoming towards foreigners”.
When it comes to talking about anti-foreigner violence in South Africa, there is a tendency to imagine most of South African society as xenophobic. Even among respected scholars and analysts such tendency has assumed truism.
No whole society can be either xenophobic or xenophilic towards non-citizens. In any country, there are people who are unwelcoming of foreigners and, at the same time, there are also citizens who welcome foreigners. Societies and communities are more complex and multifaceted in their behaviour and attitudes. Hence, to talk about “a society” as a uniform, single and homogenous entity is not only wrong but also misguided and erroneous.
Despite this fact, we have the inclination to speak and write about societies and communities as a single unit. For example, in casual conversations, I have heard people talk about all nationals of particular countries as either friendly, polite, rude, loud, scammers and so on. All of us have the inclination to describe people in simplified and stereotypical ways.
When I visited a few countries outside South Africa and I told people that I lived in South Africa, their immediate reaction was how was I able to survive in a “xenophobic society”. My immediate response was that not all South Africans were xenophobic and what people viewed and read about xenophobia in South Africa told only a partial story about our everyday lives and interactions with South Africans. I corrected them by saying that there were many in South Africa who did not like foreigners but there were also many who were welcoming and were our best friends, acquaintances, co-workers and neighbours who embraced our foreignness and believed in coexistence, our common Africannes and our common humanity.
If South Africa, as a whole, was xenophobic, I wouldn’t have obtained my higher education through the financial support from the South African society and the government. If the whole South Africa was xenophobic, we, refugees, would have been placed within remote camps rather than being allowed to live among South Africans.
If the whole South Africa was xenophobic, we wouldn’t have had the loving and receptive friends, neighbours, co-workers and polite and welcoming South Africans we encounter in our everyday interactions. If all South Africans were xenophobic, we wouldn’t see thousands of South Africans protesting against xenophobic violence in the country, in support of migrants. If the whole of South Africa was xenophobic, we, refugees, would not have survived for a day let alone many years.
Yes, there is xenophobia in South Africa but there is also xenophilia among many fellow South Africans. It is unfair to characterise all South Africans as xenophobic and such a belief tends to mask the everyday relations between South Africans and migrants in the country. By characterising all South Africans as xenophobic, we are doing a disservice to a country that has provided as many socio-economic rights, the right to free movement and the opportunity to pursue our dreams. Despite the presence of hostilities towards foreigners, we also receive warm welcome from many South Africans.
Dr Amanuel Isak Tewolde is Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg.
The Star