As the xenophobic attacks around the country continue to grab headlines it seems much of the blame has been laid at the feet of Zulu leader King Goodwill Zwelithini. Sure, his comments probably didn’t help but there are other factors at play which have contributed towards the toxic violence we are currently witnessing.

According to Professor Loren Landau, from the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of the Witwatersrand, the reasons for the attacks are threefold – they are easy targets, economic opportunities and the national discourse promoted by South Africa’s leaders.

Here is Landau speaking to City Press:

In terms of the targets of the attacks I think there are a number of explanations. The most obvious is proximity: these are the groups of people who live and work in townships. As the violence is based on a mix of rage, frustration and opportunism, these are the obvious and ‘easy’ targets. That the police have done little to protect them does little to discourage such attacks…

Second, these are people working in sectors such as small business and manual labour that offer the few available economic opportunities to poor South Africans. While their presence may ultimately create jobs, it is not perceived that way…

And this suggests a third reason: the consistent demonisation of poor migrants from officials and leaders. The discourse about economic competition, illegal immigration and even the threats of disease and terrorism have largely pointed to migrants from Africa and Asia

So yes, our leaders do have to take some responsibility for what is happening, even if they claim they have been ‘misquoted’ by the media. People such as JZ may be paying these foreigners some lip service at the moment by condemning the attacks, but the attitudes of our people are shaped year round, not just when the shit hits the fan.

I suppose we can all do better.

[source:citypress]