Migration and Xenophobia Resources

Featured Media

Working together to address xenophobic violence in South Africa

By Jean Pierre Misago, Loren Landau and Silindile Mlilo – Daily Maverick, 26 September 2019

Three academics from the African Centre for Migration & Society at the University of the Witwatersrand, where they manage a project called Xenowatch, designed to monitor xenophobic violence in South Africa, have written this open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa. They offer unsolicited advice on how to respond to the ongoing xenophobic and related violence.

In sickness and in health: why the Minister of Home Affairs has a duty of care to tackle endemic anti-foreigner sentiment

By Jo Vearey and Rebecca Walker – Daily Maverick, 26 September 2019

Many of South Africa’s government officials have contracted a dangerous, highly contagious and apparently incurable disease. Symptoms include espousing anti-foreigner sentiments and scapegoating non-nationals for failures of the state, while simultaneously denying that xenophobia exists in the country.

The state of South African labour sector

By John Perlman – Today with John Perlman, Kaya FM, 26 September 2019

John Perlman probed whether foreign nationals have a negative impact on the South African labour sector. He spoke to Jo Vearey, Associate Professor & Director, African Centre for Migration & Society from the University of the Witwatersrand. Prof Jo was joined by COSATU spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla.

What’s behind the deadly violence in South Africa?

By Loren B Landau – The New York Times, 16 September 2019

On 16 September Professor Loren Landau published this opinion piece in the New York Times. Landau argues that the xenophobic violence is not irrational violence or a spontaneous popular revolt. Nor is it simply “criminality,” as South Africa’s political leaders repeatedly claim. Rather, it is an act rooted in the failures of South Africa’s transformation.

Media Engagements and Opinion

Jo Vearey and Gina Snyman, Stop spreading dangerous lies. Foreign migrants are not root cause of SA’s problems (City Press, 24 September 2019)
South Africa struggles to combat its problem with violence (DW, 21 September 2019)
South Africa xenophobia: Africa needs ‘managed migration’ (BBC News, 21 September 2019)
The ugly truth about the new South Africa (Spiked, 19 September 2019)
‘Just a crime’ blame-game approach to xenophobia isn’t working (The Citizen, 18 September 2019)
Loren Landau, What’s behind the deadly violence in South Africa (The New York Times, 16 September 2019)
Bishops across Africa condemn ‘xenophobic’ attacks in South Africa (Catholic News Agency, 16 September 2019)
Joburg mosque attacked in night of xenophobic violence (Wits Vuvuzela, 11 September 2019)
The Political Desk with Dr Rebecca Walker (Radio 702, 11 September 2019)
‘We are a target’: Wave of xenophobic attacks sweeps Johannesburg (The Guardian, 10 September 2019)
Power Business with Ron Derby – African migration (Power 98.7, 9 September 2019)
Attacks on foreign-owned shops continue in South Africa as toll increases (Independent.ie, 9 September 2019)
What’s behind South Africa’s xenophobic violence last week? (The Washington Post, 9 September 2019)
South Africa’s ills make scapegoats of African migrants (The Citizen, 9 September 2019)
Xenophobic attacks: Did the authorities miss the signs? (News24, 8 September 2019)
The tail wags South Africa-Nigeria dog (Vanguard, 6 September 2019)
After a week of xenophobic attacks, South Africa grapples for answers (Voice of America, 6 September 2019)
Experts sound warning on government’s failure to deal with xenophobia (EWN, 5 September 2019)
SA’s reluctance to deal with xenophobia may breed far-right politics: Experts (EWN, 5 September 2019)
In blaze of powerlessness, South Africans rage against migrants (The Christian Science Monitor, 5 September 2019)
Loren Landau, Xenophobia response: Build solidarity not silos (Daily Maverick, 4 September 2019)
‘They’ are not doing this because they don’t want foreigners – they’re desperate, they’re hungry (Daily Maverick, 4 September 2019)
Kaya Breakfast with David O’ Sullivan, Thabiso Sikwane & Jason Goliath (Kaya FM, 3 September 2019)
Enough is enough – we will take definitive measures, Minister reacts to attacks against Nigerians in South Africa (International Centre for Investigative Reporting, 2 September 2019)
Loren Landau, The foreign invasion? How the anti-immigrant backlash makes us all unsafe (News24, 18 August 2019)
Jean Pierre Misago, Is the state complicit in xenophobic violence in South Africa? (Daily Maverick, 13 August 2019)
David Bruce and Tanya Zack, Joburg vendors vs police: When the system wears a badge of the law but lacks moral authority (Daily Maverick, 5 August 2019)

Featured Publications

Fact sheet on foreign workers in South Africa: Overview based on Statistics South Africa data (2012-2017)

This fact sheet is based on statistics released by Statistics South Africa in its 2017 Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) (Report No. 02-11-02 (2017), and analysis undertaken by the African Centre for Migration & Society. The statistics offered here present a partial picture of both mobility and employment. The limited scope of the migration module in the QLFS, and the five year gap in its administration on the one hand, and the fluidity of migration on the other, means that there is much we do not know about migrant and employment in South Africa. Similarly the informality of employment is not completely captured in this survey.

Reporting on migration in South Africa: A guide for journalists and editors

Sonke Gender Justice and Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town (2019). Reporting on Migration in South Africa: A Guide for Journalists and Editors. Sonke Gender Justice, Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, African Centre for Migration and Society, Consortium for Refugees and Migrants South Africa, and Lawyers for Human Rights: South Africa.

Reporting on migration in South Africa: A guide for journalists and editors

Xenowatch factsheet 1: Incidents of xenophobic violence in South Africa: January-September 2019

This factsheet provides a numerical summary of xenophobic violence incidents that occurred across South Africa between January 2019 and September 2019. Prepared by: Silindile N. Mlilo

Xenowatch Factsheet: 1 Incidents of Xenophobic Violence in South Africa: January – September 2019

Academic And Policy Publications

Misago, J.P. 2019. Political Mobilisation as the Trigger of Xenophobic Violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa. International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV) 13, 646
Misago, J.P. 2017. Politics by other means? The political economy of xenophobic violence in post-apartheid South Africa. The Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research, 47, 40-53.
Mapitsa, C., 2016. Local Politics of Xenophobia. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 1-17.
Monama, E., Landau, L.B., 2016. Tragedy or farce? Xenophobic violence against foreign nationals and other “outsiders” in post-apartheid South Africa. ACMS Issue Brief.
Misago, J.P., 2016. Responding to Xenophobic Violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Barking Up the Wrong Tree? African Human Mobility Review 2, 443–467.
Fourchard, L., Segatti, A., 2015. Introduction of xenophobia and citizenship: the everyday politics of exclusion and inclusion in Africa. Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute 85, 2–12.
Misago, J.P., Freemantle, I., Landau, L.B., 2015. Protection from Xenophobia: An Evaluation of UNHCR’s Regional Office for Southern Africa’s Xenophobia Related Programmes. University of Witwatersrand, ACMS.
Monson, T., Takabvirwa, K., Anderson, J., Polzer Ngwato, T., Freemantle, I. 2012. Promoting Social Cohesion and Countering Violence Against Foreigners and Other ‘Outsiders’: A study of social cohesion interventions in fourteen South African Townships. Research Report ACMS, Wits: Johannesburg.
Fauvelle-Aymar, C., Segatti, A. 2011. People, Space and Politics: An Exploration of Factors Explaining the 2008 Anti-Foreigner Violence in South Africa. In Loren B. Landau (Ed.) Exorcising the Demons within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa, Johannesburg: Wits Press, 56-88.
Vigneswaran, D. 2011. ‘Separation Anxiety’: The Historical Origins of Xenophobia in the SAPS. In Loren B. Landau (Ed.) Exorcising the Demons within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa. Johannesburg: Wits.
Polzer Ngwato, T., Segatti, A. 2011. From Defending Migrant Rights to New Political Subjectivities: Gauteng Migrants’ Organisations After May 2008. In Loren B. Landau (Ed.) Exorcising the Demons within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa, Johannesburg: Wits Press.
Monson, T., Arian, R. 2011. Media Memory: A Critical Reconstruction of the May 2008 Violence. In Loren B. Landau (Ed) Exorcising the Demons within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa, Johannesburg: Wits Press
Misago, J. P. 2011. Disorder in a Changing Society: Authority and the Micro-Politics of Violence. In Loren B. Landau (Ed.) Exorcising the Demons within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa, Johannesburg: Wits Press
Landau, L. B. 2011. Postscript: Demons and Democracy: Positive Values and the Politics of Outsiderness in Contemporary South Africa . In Loren B. Landau, (Ed.) Exorcising the Demons within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa, Johannesburg: Wits Press, 226-36.
Polzer, T. 2010. ‘Xenophobia’: Violence against Foreign Nationals and other ‘Outsiders’ in Contemporary South Africa. Issue Brief 3. Johannesburg: ACMS, Wits University.
Monson, T., Igglesden, V., Polzer, T. 2009. Humanitarian Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons in South Africa: Lessons Learned Following Attacks on Foreign Nationals in May 2008. Report January ACMS, Wits: Johannesburg.
ACMS. 2009. Towards Tolerance, Law, and Dignity: Addressing Violence against Foreign Nationals in South Africa. Report February, IOM: Johannesburg.
Landau, L. B. 2008. Violence, Condemnation, and the Meaning of Living in South Africa, in S. Hassim, T. Kupe, and E. Worby (Eds.), Go Home Or Die Here: Violence, Xenophobia, and the Reinvention of Difference in South Africa. Johannesburg: Wits University Press: 105- 118.