<\/span><\/h2>\nIn public debate, foreign nationals are sometimes blamed for unemployment, insecurity, poverty or economic competition. This logic of collective blame is dangerous. It turns very different individuals into a single group identified as a problem.<\/p>\n
Yet violence neither creates jobs nor solves social problems. Above all, it puts people who may have done nothing wrong at risk. It indiscriminately affects workers, families, traders and people in precarious situations simply because they come from elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The question of documents illustrates this risk particularly clearly. Verifying the authenticity of a document requires skills, training and an appropriate procedure. When unauthorised people claim this power, perfectly valid documents may be torn up or destroyed on the grounds that they are supposedly fake. Such a situation is both unjust and troubling.<\/p>\n
Efforts to combat fraud or criminal activity, where they exist, must be the responsibility of the competent institutions and must comply with clear rules. They cannot become a pretext for attacks against all nationals of the same country. Crimes can be committed by foreign nationals, just as they can be committed by South Africans: origin cannot replace an examination of individual responsibility.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Not confusing crime, immigration and national identity<\/span><\/h2>\nConcerns may exist in neighbourhoods where residents witness theft, violence, trafficking or other offences. These concerns must be heard without being turned into general hostility towards all foreign nationals. The presence of people involved in wrongdoing does not make other people of the same nationality guilty.<\/p>\n
This distinction is essential. A society does not protect its citizens in the long term by allowing an association between immigration and crime to take hold. It protects them by prosecuting offenders on the basis of established facts, without tolerating attacks, vigilante actions or public humiliation.<\/p>\n
It is also important to avoid portraying the entire South African population as xenophobic. The country includes people who openly reject violence against foreign nationals and defend African unity. Reducing all South Africans to the actions of part of society would reproduce precisely the mechanism of generalisation that fuels xenophobia.<\/p>\n
<\/span>A reminder of historic African solidarity<\/span><\/h2>\nThe reactions prompted by violence take on a particular dimension because of the history of African solidarity with South Africa. Many African countries welcomed South Africans as refugees during the darkest periods of their history. This welcome could include asylum, material support, friendship and educational opportunities.<\/p>\n
This past explains the incomprehension and anger felt by many Africans when African foreign nationals are mistreated in South Africa. It is a reminder that solidarity among peoples should not be a memory invoked only when convenient, but a principle that also guides present-day relations.<\/p>\n
However, recalling past assistance should not be used to claim a personal debt from individuals today. Solidarity cannot be reduced to a permanent accounting exercise. Rather, it should encourage mutual responsibility: protecting people, respecting their dignity and refusing to let economic hardship become a reason for violence.<\/p>\n
<\/span>The responsibility of states when citizens leave<\/span><\/h2>\nXenophobia also reveals a broader vulnerability on the continent. When citizens feel compelled to leave for another African country to find a better life, it is legitimate to question the shortcomings of their country of origin. Employment, security, services, economic opportunities and the quality of governance are all issues that cannot be avoided.<\/p>\n
This is not to claim that migrants are responsible for the difficulties they encounter, nor to suggest that they should accept mistreatment. No one should be beaten or driven away for seeking a better life. But the leaders and institutions of every country have a responsibility to create conditions that allow their citizens to build their future at home if they wish to do so.<\/p>\n
This perspective calls for a shift in the debate. Rather than limiting discussions to mutual accusations between populations, attention must focus on the causes of departure, national failings and cooperation between African states. A country able to offer prospects to its population reduces the vulnerability of those who have no choice but to depend on welcome elsewhere.<\/p>\n