Africa's Fear of Itself: the ideology of Makwerekwere in South Africa

Since the collapse of apartheid, the figure of Makwerekwere has been constructed and deployed in South Africa to render Africans from outside the borders orderable as the nation’s bogeyman. Waves of violence against Makwerekwere have characterised South Africa since then, the largest of which broke out in May 2008 in the Johannesburg shantytown of Alexander. It quickly spread throughout the country. The militants were black citizens who exclusively targeted African foreign nationals, with some witnesses reporting grotesque scenes of sadistic behaviour. So far these violent spurts have been described as xenophobia, overlooking the history of colonial group relations in South Africa. From the perspective of this article, the history of colonial group relations cannot be overlooked, for the relations between citizens and noncitizens are extended shadows of this history. I argue that, rather than rushing to characterise these relations as xenophobia, we should factor in the history of colonial group relations and the extent to which the post-apartheid ideology of Makwerekwere and South Africa’s ‘we-image’ vis-à-vis the rest of Africa may bear the imprints of this history. Half a century ago Fanon wrote of the ‘black man’ as ‘a phobogenic object, a stimulus to anxiety’ among whites. Today it is fair assessment to suggest that Africans are phobogenic unto themselves, that Africa is a stimulus to its own anxiety. Africa’s fear of itself is exemplified by the loathing of black foreign nationals in South Africa—peculiarly by the nation’s ex-victims of apartheid—which is increasingly becoming a fundamental component of South Africa’s collective identitification and public culture. Since the collapse of apartheid, the phantom ofMakwerekwere has been constructed and deployed in and through public discourse to render Africans from outside the borders orderable as the nation’s bogeyman. Waves of violence against Makwerekwere have been rocking South Africa since 1994. The largest and best known broke out in May 2008 in a Johannesburg shantytown of Alexandra. It quickly spread throughout the country. The militants were black citizens who exclusively targeted African foreign nationals, with some witnesses reporting grotesque scenes of sadistic behaviour. How did victims of David Mario Matsinhe is a policy analyst at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Third World Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2011, pp 295–313 ISSN 0143-6597 print/ISSN 1360-2241 online/11/020295–19 2011 Southseries Inc., www.thirdworldquarterly.com DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2011.560470 295 apartheid become victimisers with such violent gushing of ire almost exclusively against Africans? This is the central concern of the article. According to Danso and McDonald, South African xenophobia amounts to violent harassment of immigrants from other countries in Africa, killing ‘tens, if not thousands’. In a study of West African nationals in Johannesburg, a Nigerian national is quoted saying, it is hatred of ‘blacks against blacks’ in which white foreigners are seen as tourists and black foreigners as ‘makwerekwere’. A joint statement by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) indicates that the victimisation of black South Africans is being replaced by the victimisation of African foreigners, noting that not only are more and more citizens becoming more xenophobic but they also perceive ‘almost exclusively black foreigners’ as directly responsible for rising unemployment and violent crime. On 18 April 1997 a Mail and Guardian article headlined ‘Searching for a guilty Nigerian’ reported activities of the South African Narcotics Bureau policemen, describing how they ‘celebrated a colleague’s birthday by endeavouring to arrest as many Nigerians as possible in the Hillbrow area’. Generally studies on South African xenophobia agree that African foreign nationals are more likely than other nationalities to be victims of physical violence. A study of xenophobia on the University of Johannesburg campus made similar revelations. A Turkish student notes that both black and white South Africans equate the word ‘foreigner’ with ‘black foreigner’, which in turn is given ‘all different negative connotations’. A Dutch student agrees, pointing out that not only do black South Africans loathe ‘black nationalities’ but also ‘show a lot of respect to white people, because to them they are the creators of wealth’. A recent study found that in South Africa’s tourism industry ‘tourist’ is a ‘whites only’ category; African foreign nationals are personae non gratae.