FOREIGN EXPERIENCE IN AFRICA

A Foreign Experience:
Violence, crime and xenophobia
during South Africa's transition

by

Kasule Muhammad

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all who participated in this research project for sharing your stories and experiences. Thank you also to the following people:

Brandon Hamber and Piers Pigou for their supervision of the project. Craig Higson-Smith, Barbara English of Wordsmiths, and Brandon Hamber for editing the report. To the refugee facilitators for translating and transcribing the interviews, particularly Venancio Simoa, Mohammed Guillied, Aime Ndyisaba, Venancio Simoa and Sileshi Tegegne. CSVR staff, particularly Marivic Garcia, Frances Spencer, Mary Robertson, Graeme Simpson, Carnita Ernest, Lauren Segal, Sasha Gear, Nokuthula Skhosana, Tebogo Mafokoane, Goodwill Ditlhage, Bea Abrahams, Helen Hajiyiannis, and the Research Committee for all of their support, advice and assistance throughout this project. David McDonald and Anne Mitchell of the South African Migration Project for running a keyword search on the SAMP media data-base. Derek Hook, Wardie Leppan of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for his ongoing support of the Violence and Transition Project. A number of people have generously shared their knowledge about the 'foreigner field'. These include: Uli Albrecht, Florencia Belvedere, Abeda Bhamjee, Deborah Ho, Nicola Johnstone, Jonathan Klaaren, Ann Kirkman, Jody Kollapen, Zonke Majodina, Jennifer Parsley, Sally-Ann Peberdy, Jaya Ramji, Andrew Rens, Pumla Rulashe, Sally Sealy, Bertus Swanevelder, Joyce Tlou, AnaisTuepkar, Jacob van Garderen and Nicola Woodin.

This booklet was funded by International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The Violence and Transition Series is a product of an extensive research project conducted by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) into the nature and extent of violence during South Africa’s transition from apartheid rule to democracy. This series comprises a set of self-contained, but interrelated reports, which explore violence across the period 1980 to 2000 within key social loci and areas, including:

·         Revenge Violence and Vigilantism;

·         Foreigners (immigrants and refugees);

·         Hostels and Hostel Residents;

·         Ex-combatants;

·         State Security Forces (police and military), and

·         Taxi violence.

While each report grapples with the dynamics of violence and transition in relation to its particular constituency all are underpinned by the broad objectives of the series, namely:

·         To analyse the causes, extent and forms of violence in South Africa across a timeframe that starts before the political transition and moves through the period characterised by political transformation and reconciliation to the present;

·         To assess the legacy of a violent past and the impact of formal democratisation and transition on the contemporary nature of violence by researching continuities and changes in its form and targets;

·         To investigate the role of perpetrators and victims of violence across this timeframe;

·         To evaluate reconciliation strategies and institutions, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established to ameliorate future violence in South Africa;

·         To develop a macro-theory for understanding violence in countries moving from authoritarian to democratic rule, i.e. 'countries in transition', and

·         To contribute to local and international debates about reconciliation and justice for perpetrators and victims of gross violations of human rights.

Through these objectives, the Violence and Transition Series aims to inform and benefit policy analysts, government officials and departments, non-governmental and civic organisations, and researchers working in the fields of:

·         Violence prevention;

·         Transitional criminal justice;

·         Victim empowerment;

·         Truth commissions;

·         Reconciliation;

·         Human rights, and

·         Crime prevention.

As a country emerging from a past characterised by violence and repression South Africa faces new challenges with the slow maturation of democracy. Violence today is complex, dynamic and creative in form shaped by both apartheid and the mechanisms of transition itself. In order to understand - and prevent - violence during transition in South Africa and abroad an ongoing action-research agenda is required. Through this series the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation offers an initial and exploratory, yet detailed, contribution to this process.