South Africa: From Post-Apartheid Optimism to Economic Decline and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

According to the prevailing socially liberal view, there are no differences between groups of people and their cultures that would justify ranking them in order of superiority. Correspondingly, according to an earlier narrative—which the present-day mainstream categorically rejects—it is precisely these factors that would explain the differences between nations.

From time to time, I have examined the development of countries such as South Africa and Haiti on this blog within precisely this framework. The former emerged from apartheid and was handed over to Black-led government in reasonably good shape—at least by African standards. The latter, meanwhile, is the only country in the Western Hemisphere with a predominantly Black population.

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South Africa's economy grew rapidly after the transition to Black rule, as the country opened up to international trade, foreign investment and economic cooperation following the lifting of sanctions imposed because of apartheid.

However, the country's economy began to decline after 2011 and has since settled at a lower level. This development is clearly illustrated by the image from the World Bank that I have reproduced below.

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Yesterday, Finland's national public broadcasting company Yle published an article about South Africans' attitudes towards immigrants. According to the report, hostility towards foreigners has increased there recently, with people blaming immigrants from other African countries for crime and for taking jobs away from locals.

The situation has become so absurd that even South Africans have been beaten up because they were mistaken for foreigners simply because they did not speak Zulu. This is despite the fact that the Zulu are not the only dark-skinned ethnic group in the country.

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The problem is evidently a serious one. Approximately 4.5 million of the country's residents are known to have been born abroad, but there is not even reliable information available on the number of people residing in the country illegally. In this respect, the situation resembles that of Finland and other European countries: many South African companies employ this workforce, even though the country simultaneously has an unemployment rate of as much as 30 percent. Yle's report did not explain why this is the case, but anyone can naturally suspect that saving on labour costs may well have something to do with it.

According to a researcher interviewed by Yle, the state also benefits from an 'anti-immigrant narrative' because it turns foreigners into scapegoats. At the same time, it diverts attention from the political leadership's failure to provide public services.

Our state broadcaster, for its part, concluded its report by telling us that, in the opinion of one illegal immigrant, returning to his or her home country is difficult because employment prospects there are poor and children would struggle to adapt to the local way of life. Consequently, this person would rather move to Europe, because it is safe here and children have opportunities to receive an education.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A Brave New World Will Be Born from Today’s Fertility
South Africa: life without a culture of maintenance
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?