South Africa’s xenophobia dilemma: How migrants became scapegoats for deeper political failures
South Africa’s recurring waves of anti-migrant mobilisation reflect a deeper political and socioeconomic paradox, in which immigrants are cast as culprits for crises they did not create, according to a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
The argument was outlined in a recent interview with Aimée-Noel Mbiyozo, a senior research consultant at the ISS, who spoke with FRANCE 24 host Genie Godula about the structural roots of xenophobic sentiment in the country. Her central claim is that while public frustration is real, it has increasingly been channelled toward migrant communities who serve as convenient political stand-ins for far more complex failures of governance.
Genuine grievances, misdirected anger
South Africa continues to grapple with stubbornly high unemployment, deep structural inequality, persistent corruption and overstretched public services. Mbiyozo emphasises that the anger felt by many South Africans is entirely legitimate, rooted in lived experiences of economic insecurity and institutional decay. What concerns her is the way in which that anger is repeatedly redirected toward foreigners, rather than toward the policies and political actors most directly responsible for the country’s socioeconomic conditions.
Political convenience over evidence
Drawing on migration data and labour market research, the ISS researcher argues that anti-migrant narratives tend to outpace the evidence supposedly backing them. Hostility toward foreigners, she suggests, persists less because it is supported by fact and more because it is politically useful. In a context where unemployment and inequality resist easy solutions, blaming migrants offers politicians and community leaders a simple, emotionally resonant explanation for problems whose real causes are far more entrenched.
A pattern without borders
The framing places South Africa’s experience within a broader international trend in which populist movements deploy anti-immigrant rhetoric to mobilise support, often during periods of economic stress or political volatility. From Europe to the Americas, similar dynamics have emerged in which migrants — regardless of their numbers or economic contribution — are positioned as the visible face of national decline. Mbiyozo characterises this tendency as “politically expedient around the world,” noting that the scapegoating logic travels well across very different political systems.
Beyond the blame game
Analysts warn that without addressing the underlying drivers of public discontent — weak governance, unemployment and failing service delivery — repeated outbreaks of xenophobic mobilisation risk becoming a recurring feature of South Africa’s political landscape. The challenge for policymakers, researchers argue, is to disentangle legitimate grievances from the politically expedient narratives that exploit them, and to shift the conversation back toward the institutions and decisions that shape daily life for both citizens and migrants.
As debates over migration continue to intensify in countries around the world, the South African case illustrates how easily structural failures can be reframed as the fault of newcomers — and how difficult it remains to redirect public anger toward the sources from which it truly springs.
Source: FRANCE 24 — read the original report.
