Soweto residence (c. 2009). Photo Source: Kevin Gabbert – Public domain

In 2002, horrific violence broke out in the Indian state of Gujarat that would shape and define the political career of Narendra Modi. The pogrom, which killed thousands of Muslims and displaced tens of thousands more, showed how fear and hatred can be used as weapons in the pursuit of political power. Modi’s right-wing populism, which has its roots in Hindu fascism, has enabled and consolidated his national prominence. Today, South Africa risks following a similarly destructive trajectory, as political elites increasingly seek to foment xenophobia against African and Asian immigrants in order to direct the anger resulting from a devastating economic and social crisis onto defenseless scapegoats.

The 2008 pogroms in South Africa, in which more than 60 immigrants and people from ethnic minorities were killed and thousands more displaced, marked the first dark moment in the country’s post-apartheid history. Alliances between local politicians and thugs have scapegoated immigrants for the country’s deep-seated economic inequalities, even though they are often victims of the same systemic neglect. Now, fifteen years later, the same dynamics remain, but the extent and intensity of xenophobia has evolved as new flashpoints and actors emerge.

One of the most worrying developments in recent years has been the rise of Operation Dudula, a vigilante movement targeting immigrants. On 16 June 2021, a day of deep historical significance when South Africa commemorated the 1976 Soweto Uprising, Dudula held his first march in Soweto. Operation Dudula, like other xenophobic organizations, actively sought to present itself as a continuation of the national liberation struggle; This time, poor Zimbabweans working in the informal economy and small-scale Pakistani tradesmen were portrayed as enemies of the people.

Adopting a militaristic stance, Dudula continued to conduct ‘raids’ on immigrant-owned businesses, forcibly remove immigrant families from their homes, and patrol communities to identify and deport immigrants. Dudula’s actions in many counties created a climate of fear not only for immigrants but also for South African-born residents who refused to participate in these raids.

Despite the group’s clearly violent and unlawful actions, the state’s response was moderate. The police allowed them to operate with impunity, and some political leaders tacitly approved of Dudula’s activities, viewing the movement as a way to channel public frustration without addressing systemic failures. This lack of responsibility encouraged Dudula, but the organization never gained any mass support. Despite extensive media coverage, they never progressed beyond being small bandit groups with a media-savvy, specially trained leader.

Political and other elites legitimize xenophobia on behalf of the poor, but strikingly the mass-based organizations of the poor and working class are mostly not xenophobic. During the 2008 pogrom, Abahlali baseMjondolo, a radical movement of the urban poor with more than 150,000 paid members and many more supporters, bravely opposed xenophobic attacks and resolutely opposed xenophobia. He includes immigrants among his leaders and platforms at his major public events, and worked with Congolese immigrants to found the radical Lumumbist Congolese Solidarity Campaign, with which he is closely affiliated.

The union movement has a long history of opposing xenophobia and including immigrants in leadership positions. This continues to be the case for many unions, including the metalworkers union Numsa, the largest union in Africa. However, in 2019, the then General Secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), Zwelinzima Vavi, broke with this consensus by tweeting a photo of Muslim immigrant shopkeepers walking towards a mosque with the caption: “These are the new shop owners” during noon prayers. Are too many things going wrong?

In the national elections held in May this year, some candidates placed xenophobia at the center of their platforms. Herman Mashaba and Gayton McKenzie, both pro-Trump figures, were among the worst, but most voters didn’t buy it. Less than 40 percent of voters bothered to participate in the election, and Mashaba’s party won 1.2 percent of the vote and McKenzie’s party 2.1 percent. But despite their lack of success in the polls, Mashaba and McKenzie feature regularly and, in McKenzie’s case, fawn over the media, creating the impression that immigration is an important issue for voters.

In recent days and weeks, xenophobic rhetoric has escalated dangerously, with the media and politicians taking a leading role. Allegations that immigrant-owned stores were “poisoning children” with expired or spoiled products were widely circulated. A video circulating on WhatsApp goes a step further and claims that Pakistani shopkeepers are poisoning water supplies. McKenzie said: “We need to close all these stores. We can’t be discussing this issue. Shops should be closed, their owners should be arrested and deported. What more do we want to see, more children dying?”

There is a real problem in South Africa with a long list of pesticides circulating freely, despite being banned in many other countries. Because the government does not provide garbage collection services to informal settlements, people often purchase dangerous pesticides to combat rat infestations. Tragically, there were also cases where children died. But this is not a conspiracy by immigrant shopkeepers to poison South African children, but the result of the state’s failure to clean up garbage and regulate dangerous toxins.

In response to the tragic death of six children due to terbufos poisoning in Naledi, Soweto, a coalition of civil society organizations and unions has published a report highlighting systemic regulatory failures. The coalition operating in the South African People’s Court on AgroToxins emphasized that these deaths were a direct result of inadequate regulation and enforcement regarding dangerous pesticides.

The report focuses specifically on terbufos, an organophosphate pesticide that has been banned in the European Union since 2009 due to its high toxicity but is still in use in South Africa. The coalition criticizes the continued production and export of such chemicals from Europe to developing countries, describing it as a “racist double standard in the pesticide trade”.

Despite all this, many politicians and much of the media continue to speak as if immigrant shopkeepers are part of an insidious conspiracy to kill South African children. At the same time, another folk demon is being carefully manufactured, as the state presents all unregistered miners working in shafts abandoned by mining companies as both “illegal aliens” and “dangerous criminals”.

Unregistered miners, known as ‘zama zamas’, are poor men from across South Africa, many from South Africa, who undertake dangerous and difficult work to survive the economic crisis. Some work under criminal gangs, but most are ordinary people trying to survive.

In recent days, a crisis has emerged in Stilfontein in the North West Region, where zama zama miners are trapped underground by police who are blocking food and water supplies in an attempt to force the miners to the surface. Families gather at the scene, eagerly waiting for news from their loved ones.

Rather than treating this as a humanitarian crisis, the state responded with hostility. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said: “We are not sending aid to criminals. We will extinguish them with smoke. They will go out. Criminals should not be helped; criminals must be tried. “We didn’t send them there.” There are real fears that people could die or have already died in the mines.

Active attempts by political elites within and outside the ANC to incite xenophobia and scapegoat immigrants are inseparable from wider economic and social crises. Official unemployment rates exceed 30% and youth unemployment exceeds 60%. Hunger is widespread, and 27% of children under five are affected by stunting, a condition caused by chronic malnutrition that negatively impacts growth and development.

The recent termination of the COVID-19 Social Distress Relief (SRD) grant, combined with harsh austerity measures in the medium-term budget, has worsened the crisis. At the same time, systemic corruption and mismanagement have further eroded public trust. In this climate of despair, immigrants became convenient scapegoats for the political class.

The anti-immigrant pogrom of 2008 should serve as a warning to politicians like Ntshavheni, Mashaba and McKenzie who seek to stoke the flames of xenophobia with Trumpian insouciance. Modi’s success in building an effective far-right project in the wake of a pogrom should serve as a warning to anyone who aspires to a democratic future for South Africa.

South Africa must confront its systemic inequalities head on and reject the politics of scapegoating. There is an urgent need for a broad-based, united left front rooted in mass organizations rather than NGOs and small sectarian organizations.