Julius Malema, in his most scathing attack against South Africans who target foreign immigrants to date, took the stage on Sunday. Instead of the people they are trying to force out of their homes, he said that the violent Africans themselves are deeply divided.
Since the entire African continent is bound together by centuries of intermarriage, common ancestry, and interdependent cultural heritage, the head of the Economic Freedom Fighters allegedly reprimanded the Batswana and other neighbouring African communities during a public speech, asserting that animosity towards them is an expression of self-hatred. “We are married to each other,” Malema told the crowd, arguing that the cross-border link is an undeniable historical fact that can’t be obliterated by mob mentality.
Neither the South African Police Service (SAPS) nor any official statement backed up the claims. Having said that, incidents involving spaza stores and foreign-owned dwellings in Gauteng and the Western Cape have increased concerningly in the last several weeks. Community safety officials in Johannesburg reported making multiple arrests as a result of disputes in the townships. Proceedings in the lower courts have not yet concluded.
Xenophobic attacks have occurred often in South Africa since 2008, when widespread looting and killings forced the displacement of tens of thousands of people. Attacks on businesses owned by migrants are occasionally justified by opportunistic agitators using the EFF’s broader economic nationalism, which calls for the redistribution of land and corporations. Regardless, the party has always taken a stand to prevent these kinds of uprisings.
Fearing reprisal, an unnamed Zimbabwean vendor at Marabastad market stood outside her shuttered produce shop on Monday, silently tallying the quantity of product stolen the week before, while clutching a hand-written inventory list. Aside from the sound of quiet, there was no political discourse to compensate for the loss of products.
Malema raises an old and unanswered question in his intervention, one that South Africa has failed to adequately resolve: can a nation that was established on the promise of pan-African liberation ever truly extend that promise beyond its borders, or will economic instability always make people distrust their neighbour who crossed a line drawn by colonial rulers? Families on both sides of those borders will not be satisfied by any amount of empty promises.