State complicity fuels xenophobic violence

State complicity is a key element in the xenophobic violence causal chain. It needs to be addressed if we want to to ensure that the rule of law prevails, says Wits University’s Dr Jean Pierre Misago. ‘Xenophobic violence,’ he says, ‘undermines the rule of law and a state that is complicit in undermining the rule of law is a danger to itself, its legitimacy and the very sovereignty it wants to restore/protect through police raids.’ In an analysis on the Daily Maverick site, Misago argues that the mob attack on foreign traders in Johannesburg on 7 August can be linked to calls by politicians to ‘defend the sovereignty of the state’, and confirms a dangerous emerging trend: xenophobic populism leads to attacks on foreign nationals. He says there is ‘empirical evidence’ of the state’s complicity in the violence: calls by state officials on citizens to defend the country’s sovereignty and democracy is an order to attack foreigners; the mob carried out the attacks in the presence and full view of the police; and these xenophobic attacks have not elicited any official acknowledgement or condemnation. ‘This is a sign of endorsement or at least tolerance by the state,’ he says. Furthermore, interventions to address xenophobia have failed largely because of the state’s denialism, lack of political will and impunity. ‘Xenophobic violence is not a spontaneous and irrational outburst. It is a rational action taken after perpetrators have weighed costs and benefits. In the current context, benefits outweigh costs, and so violence against foreign nationals continues.’