This archive report was first published on 7 September 2019.
September 7, 2019
South Africa's recent wave of xenophobic violence has sparked widespread condemnation, but the root causes of this crisis run deeper than mere statements from politicians.
Apologists for the violence often point to economic inequality and xenophobia as the underlying causes, but this ignores the fact that apartheid was a terrible system that has left a lasting impact on South African society.
The country's economy has been in recession for years, with youth unemployment reaching nearly 25%. The commodity crash of 2015 has yet to be fully recovered from, exacerbating economic stress and feelings of exclusion among South Africans.
Violence tends to coincide with economic stress, and in South Africa's case, the cyclical nature of this violence suggests that the country's post-liberation leaders have not done enough to reverse the legacy of apartheid.
Through various metaphors and allegory, South Africa's post-apartheid leaders have often blamed external factors for their failures, using the foreigner as a scapegoat for economic inequity.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is not immune to this criticism, having made inflammatory remarks suggesting foreign encroachment and swamping of South Africa.
Ultimately, xenophobic violence is an expression of the economic discontent spawned by the failure of the post-apartheid elite to initiate an amicable way of rebalancing ownership of the South African economy.
