Nicholas Woode-Smith writes in a response to a news article by Nicole McCain, saying the reason that xenophobia cannot be quelled by data is that it is founded on red-hot rage and hatred.
Nicole McCain wrote a much-needed article (Immigrants less likely to commit crime, more likely to create jobs for South Africans, report finds, Published 15 September 2022), reporting on the Institute for Security Studies' findings that immigration does not lead to unemployment and crime that xenophobes would have us believe.
Many fellow South Africans already understood this. It makes sense that the majority of criminals will be South Africans. That's purely demographic. It also made sense that immigrants weren't putting a strain on government services. There aren't nearly enough immigrants using public services to do so. And many South Africans have observed the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants and how they contribute to the economy by creating their own jobs and wealth – rather than confirming the myth that they steal jobs.
But despite all this evidence, xenophobia is still on the rise. All the data in the world can come out to prove that foreigners are not a threat to South Africans in the job market or as criminals, but xenophobes will continue to sack foreign-owned stores and flock to xenophobic populists who promise the eradication of the alien.
I fear that the reason that xenophobia cannot be quelled by data is that it is founded on red-hot rage and hatred. It doesn't matter that immigrants aren't stealing jobs or committing crimes. Xenophobes simply hate them for who they are. They see them as scapegoats for all their own failings and a source of envy when they see their hard-earned wealth.
South Africa is a country rife with hatred of groups. Apartheid was built on it. Wars have been fought over it. And xenophobia is no different.
There needs to be a concerted effort across the board to make people realise that foreigners are not a threat. That they are a boon. And that they belong here just as much as the rest of us. If not for the immigrants themselves, then for the people who will suffer when the xenophobes' hatred is not assuaged by their deportation – and their hatred soon shifts to a new target.
Nicholas Woode-Smith, Cape Town
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