By Richard Kagoe, BBC News
ACMS Prof. Loren Landau recently spoke to BBC’s Richard Kagoe on the ‘Focus on Africa’ show about why some of the main political parties in South Africa raised concerns about the rise in illegal immigration in the country ahead of the general elections:
RK: South Africa is a melting pot of different races, languages and cultures, and was once referred to as the Rainbow Nation by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Thirty years after the start of democracy, it’s made up of people from across the continent, where many come to start businesses, work or find refuge. In fact, immigrants represent between an estimated 3 to 5% of South Africa’s population. But from time to time, anti-immigrant sentiment rears its ugly head and xenophobic attacks against the African communities – especially – takes place, with locals justifying this by saying that jobs are under threat. The country’s unemployment rate, which is at 33% is ranked as the worst in the world by the World Bank. Amongst young people, it’s even higher at 46%. In this year’s election, immigration has emerged as one of the biggest issues all parties are talking about. And a rare thing that’s uniting almost all the main parties is the issue of the rising number of migrants. The only exception to that is the Economic Freedom Fighters who espouse an overtly Pan-African ideology. I have been speaking to Professor Loren Landau, a migration expert at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who told me more.
LL: In the past, we’ve seen immigration be a big issue in South Africa, but largely at the edge of politics maybe at the very local level. What we’ve seen now since 2017 and in the last election and now really in this 2024 election is immigration and debates about closing the borders particularly and riding the country of immigrants have moved from those margins right into the centre of national polls.
RK: And why do you think the anti-immigrant sentiment has become so prevalent this year, in particular? …
For the rest of this interview click below and listen from 10:50mins onwards.
[This podcast was originally aired on the BBC ‘Focus on Africa’ show on 24 May 2024: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0j042c5]
