XENOPHOBIA _ ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

A Pew studies carried out in 2018 (data on social troubles, public opinion, and demographic trends) confirmed that 62% of South Africans regarded immigrants as a burden on society by using taking jobs and social benefits and that 61% of South Africans believe that immigrants are mostly responsible for crime than different groups. Among 2010 and 2017 the immigrant community in South Africa improved from 2 million humans to 4 million people.

A 2004 study by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) of attitudes amongst law enforcement officials in the Johannesburg region showed that 87% of respondents believed that most undocumented immigrants in Johannesburg are involved in crime, no matter there being no statistical evidence to verify the belief. Such perspectives mixed with the vulnerability of unlawful aliens led to abuse, which includes violence and extortion, a few analysts argued.

In a March 2007 assembly with Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, a representative of Burundian refugees in Durban, claimed that immigrants could not rely on police for safety, however as an alternative found police mistreating them, stealing from them and making unconfirmed allegations that they sell drugs. Two years in advance, at a comparable assembly in Johannesburg, Mapisa-Nqakula had admitted that refugees and asylum seekers had been mistreated by using police with xenophobic attitudes.

Possible Causes

A document through the Human Sciences research Council diagnosed four vast reasons for the violence:

• Relative deprivation, mainly intense competition for jobs, commodities and housing;
• Group tactics, together with psychological categorisation approaches which are nationalistic in preference to superordinate
• South African exceptionalism, or a feeling of superiority with regards to different Africans; and
• Distinct citizenship, or a form of nationalism that excludes others.