The country’s shame and Africa's failure

SA must confront xenophobia before it mutates further into organised political extremism, while the rest of the continent must realise that failed governance is helping manufacture the migration crisis that the anti-migrant movements feed on

- Jack McBrams

Dangerous reality: Two Soweto spaza shops, one owned by a local and the other a foreign national. Operation Dudula supporters have previously demanded the closure of foreign-owned spaza shops.

(Photo: Gallo Images)

The images are painfully familiar. A mob storms into a tiny spaza shop in Soweto.

The images are painfully familiar. A mob storms into a tiny spaza shop in Soweto. Shelves are inspected like contraband checkpoints. Foreign shopkeepers are interrogated by self-appointed patriots masquerading as law enforcers. Threats are issued. Deadlines are given. Leave, or else.

This is not law enforcement. It is political thuggery.

But if Africa wants an honest conversation about xenophobia in South Africa, then honesty must cut in all directions. It is not enough to condemn groups like Operation Dudula as barbaric hooligans, even though that is exactly what they are.

It is not enough to denounce ActionSA, the Patriotic Alliance and other opportunistic political actors who have discovered that hatred is an efficient campaign tool. The deeper and more uncomfortable question is this: Why are so many Africans leaving their countries, often with desperation so severe that they are willing to risk humiliation, violence and death abroad?

That is the conversation African governments keep avoiding.

Operation Dudula, whose name means “push back” in Zulu, has built its political identity around the claim that foreigners are stealing jobs, businesses and opportunities from South Africans. Their supporters march through townships threatening migrants and demanding the closure of foreign-owned spaza shops. One Dudula leader bluntly told foreign traders that those businesses “must belong to South Africans”.

It is ugly. It is dangerous. It is unconstitutional.

But here is the inconvenient reality: xenophobic politics gains traction when economies fail.