South Africa’s crises will not be solved by blaming migrants
The solution is real socio-economic change in the country and the labour movement is best positioned to push for it. South Africa is witnessing a
The solution is real socio-economic change in the country and the labour movement is best positioned to push for it. South Africa is witnessing a dangerous escalation of anti-migrant sentiment. In recent months, vigilante groups have marched through communities, businesses have been targeted, and migrants have increasingly been blamed for crime, unemployment and the collapse of public services. The anger felt by many South Africans is real. Millions face daily hardship. Unemployment remains among the highest in the world. Poverty and hunger stalk working-class communities. Young people struggle to find work. Public services are under immense strain. Entire communities feel abandoned by political leaders who promised a better life but have failed to deliver. But while the anger is understandable, it is misdirected. Migrants did not create South Africa’s unemployment crisis. They did not cause the collapse of local government. They did not deindustrialise the economy. They did not cut public spending, close factories, privatise public services, weaken labour protections or allow corruption to flourish. The roots of South Africa’s multiple crises run much deeper. The country’s extreme inequality is the product of centuries of colonial dispossession, racial capitalism and apartheid exploitation. The democratic breakthrough of 1994 ended political apartheid, but it did not fundamentally transform the economic structures that continue to concentrate wealth, land and economic power in the hands of a small minority.
Today, millions of South Africans experience the consequences of that failure. Economic growth has been weak since the global financial crisis of 2008. Manufacturing has declined. Stable employment has been replaced by precarious work and growing informality. Young people enter a labour market that offers little hope of secure employment. The frustration generated by these conditions creates fertile ground for scapegoating. History teaches us that periods of economic crisis often produce attempts to blame vulnerable groups rather than confront the real sources of social misery. Instead of challenging those who benefit from inequality, attention is diverted towards migrants, refugees and other marginalised communities. This pattern is not unique to South Africa. Across Europe, far-right political movements have gained support by blaming migrants for economic insecurity. In the United States, anti-immigrant rhetoric has become a central feature of political discourse. Similar trends have emerged in Latin America and elsewhere as economic crises deepen and social divisions intensify. This strategy of distraction is remarkably consistent. People are encouraged to direct their anger horizontally, towards other working-class people, rather than upwards towards those who hold economic and political power. When workers are divided by nationality, language, ethnicity or race, those who profit from exploitation emerge stronger. Employers who rely on cheap and vulnerable labour benefit when workers compete against one another rather than organise together.
The BriefWire