What do South African youths make of the claim that foreigners are “taking away their jobs?”

By Hans Ngala

‘South Africa’ and ‘xenophobia’ have become almost inseparable terms as there are regular outbursts of attacks targeted at Africans from other countries who are working in South Africa. This happens almost every one or two years. The claim is that foreigners are taking away jobs from local South Africans.
Is this necessarily true?
This is a complex issue and is a matter of opinion based on the experiences of each individual South African.
However, South Africa is a country with a chequered past. The country only came to democratic rule 28 years ago. Critics of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) have argued that after nearly 30 years in power, that is sufficient time to make change for Black South Africans.
Average Black South Africans are still poorer than the average White South African. The majority of private land in South Africa remains owned by White South Africans and most corporate executives in South Africa are still White.
However, the picture is not all gloomy. The Black middle class in South Africa has grown, and the government has created Black empowerment initiatives like the BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) although nationally, the wealth gap between Black and White remains very huge. Foreigners from other parts of the continent flog to South Africa to get work in their numbers and are willing to settle for salaries that local Black South Africans will not accept – this creates tension and sometimes outright violence towards foreigners seen as reducing economic opportunities from Black South Africans.

According to an article authored by University of Cape Town professors, Shannon Morreira and Tamuka Chekero published by the academic journal, The Conversation, “what is clear is that South Africans believe there are many more migrants in the country than there really are”(see hyperlink https://theconversation.com/xenophobia-does-not-tell-the-full-story-of-migration-in-south-africa-182784
Morreira and Chekero conducted a study that “found that, despite all the evidence of xenophobia in the country, migrants in many everyday local contexts were able to create and maintain convivial social relationships with South Africans.”
While there are no official statistics on the number of Cameroonians in South Africa, the numbers should be in the hundreds with a large number of them, especially in Johannesburg and others in Cape Town and Durban.
CNA reporter, Hans Ngala, spoke to students at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) to understand their take on this very complicated issue.

According to Itumeleng Nzilo, a second-year student in accounting science, “South Africans should be focusing more on getting their qualifications then go for those jobs instead of fighting with their own” while another Wits student, Nokuthula Dyariwe, believes that “xenophobia was created amongst black Africans during the segregation times that the Europeans have set to destroy and divide Africans”, adding that “As South Africans, we need to recognize and find ways of decolonizing our continent and not only believe that having” because “Africans from other parts of the continent are our brothers and sisters and when there are more opportunities of work available in one country we should work together and uplift one another”.

Another Wits University student who preferred to be identified simply as Amanda for fear of reprisal about her remarks said the problem is not Black Africans from other countries on the continent but blamed the “jagged mentality” of most Black South Africans who have been conditioned to believe that their economic disenfranchisement is to be blamed on expatriate Black Africans when in fact, “The wage gap between White South Africans and Black South Africans is one of the many clear indications of the segregation which is still in power just only hidden behind the political parties ‘ruled’ by black South Africans”.

Amanda also argues that “South Africa is a very wealthy country which is the reason it was colonized, to begin with, our resources are still under the ruling of our colonizers, the apartheid struggle continues as our voices are muted by the lack of opportunities for a platform to speak up. Unfortunately, the rulers from 30-plus years back have instilled their mindset in Black South Africans, but they still give them poor education and knowledge about the truth of their country, black South Africans are the vast majority who participate in xenophobia, the question is why?”

There may seem to be some truism in Amanda’s opinion which is grounded in facts that speak for themselves. In 2018, there was widespread news that White South Africans were being “maltreated” in South Africa. Australia’s government immediately issued a visa that would allow them to migrate to Australia and work. In more recent months, the world has seen Western powers try to coerce President Ramaphosa to take sides with America and her Western allies as they drum up global support against Russia.
The facts speak for themselves that Black South Africans do not in fact ‘hate’ Africans from other countries as Western media sometimes frame the stories.