Xenophobia is a slippery slope

South Africa is a beautiful country harbouring an insidious rot. Xenophobia – which we have seen rear its ugly head in the transport industry – is a social disease that holds South Africans back from truly uplifting themselves. NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH believes that it denies self-awareness, encourages hatred, and continues this country’s trend of animosity towards innocents.

Our country is inevitably going to be a destination for immigration. We are the most developed nation in Southern Africa – the only industrialised nation, in fact. Despite terrible policies and governance, we also have the most economic opportunities for any enterprising or hard-working person.

For an economic migrant or refugee facing destitution in their home country, it makes sense to flock to South Africa. Once here, foreigners often work incredibly hard to build businesses, provide valuable skills, and contribute tremendously to the local economy. In return, they are hated by locals.

Foreigners have been blocked from entering public hospitals, despite most likely paying more in tax than many locals. Local unions have demanded xenophobic policies to block foreigners from participating in entire industries – notably trucking. Recently, xenophobic parties and organisations have been enraged that Zimbabwean exemption permits have been extended, allowing nationals of a neighbour (that we helped to destroy) to work in this country. ActionSA, one of South Africa’s growing political parties, has been thriving on the populist trend of hating fellow human beings.

But what is the reason for all this hatred of foreigners? Is it economic? Many xenophobes cite that foreigners are stealing their jobs and denying them work. More often than not, however, immigrants create more jobs than they take. Even if they were filling local jobs that could be performed by locals, so what? The reason they got the job is because the employer wanted to hire them. What should matter here is the preference of the employer, not the demands of economic nationalists.

The data shows that immigration has a negligible effect on employment in South Africa. Overall, immigrants tend to create more jobs for South Africans, as they often start businesses that produce wealth, provide much-needed goods and services, and employ local workers.

Immigrants have proven to be valuable members of the economy, providing an enterprising spirit and much-needed skills. Prussia, the country that became the German Empire, encouraged huge amounts of immigration when it was a fledgeling state, recognising the importance of an active and productive population, no matter of what origin.

Clearly, South Africa benefits economically from immigration, so what about crime?

Yes, there are foreign criminals in South Africa. That is inevitable. But the majority of criminals in this country are South Africans. There is no inherent criminal element in foreign immigrants. Foreigners don’t cause crime to rise. Rather, it is local South Africans robbing and murdering their fellow South Africans.

Some xenophobes are angry that immigrants are on welfare. But the majority of welfare recipients are South Africans; the reason immigrants tend to be so hard working is that they don’t have the ability to get on welfare. If they do, that’s a problem with corruption in our government. If the problem is welfare, then more immigration is actually a solution: they can’t rely on welfare. They have to work.

A lack of space at public hospitals, lack of infrastructure, and deteriorating public spaces are further reasons for xenophobia. But denying foreigners access to public infrastructure is arbitrary in the extreme. The only justifiable method of determining if someone deserves to use public infrastructure is whether or not they pay tax. Most South Africans don’t pay tax. They pay VAT, sure, but so do foreigners – and many foreigners pay tax on top of VAT.

Foreigners have just as much right to use public infrastructure as locals. It’s public – that implies usage by everyone, not just people who happened to be born in this country!

As we have seen, the reasoning behind xenophobia is flimsy and not based in reality. The real reason for xenophobia is much simpler: it is pure jealousy and hatred.

Foreigners are often hard working, skilled, and enterprising. So, they get rich, and this creates jealousy that turns into hatred and violence. Foreign-owned shops are looted by the hateful and the jealous. Hard work is ignored and neighbours are deemed to be aliens.

This all culminates in the primal reasoning behind xenophobia: simple and utter hatred of the other. This hatred is a slippery slope because xenophobes don’t just hate foreigners. They have a hatred that stems from far more than just the tenuous reasoning seen above. They hate everything they deem alien… not just immigrants.

When foreigners are successfully expelled, will the xenophobes be sated? Not likely. Already, Indian people who have lived here for generations have been deemed aliens and were attacked in the mass riots of last year. White people are considered perpetual settlers and deemed unwelcome, despite many families being here for centuries.

And if already alienated Indian and white people are expelled, it won’t stop there. The different ethnicities of South Africa have a history of fighting one another. Without foreigners – Indians and whites to despise – there will soon be a new Mfecane with resentment and conflict between local cultural groups.

Hatred begets hatred. It can’t be cured by being appeased; it can only be cured by ending the hatred. When we hate groups and collectives, we go down an inevitable path to ruin. It has to end; xenophobia is destroying this country and is only a precursor for even more hatred.

It has to end.