Xenophobia represents more than prejudice

The recent resurgence of xenophobic attacks and anti-immigrant mobilisation in SA has once again exposed deep divisions within our society. Whether expressed through violent attacks, threats against foreign-owned businesses, or public demonstrations demanding the removal of fellow African citizens, these actions have generated intense debate about immigration, border control, crime and economic hardship. These are important issues that deserve serious discussion.

However, if we focus only on our fellow Africans, we risk missing a more troubling question: What does xenophobia reveal about the psychological state of South Africans? Many South Africans are living under immense pressure. Unemployment remains stubbornly high.

Poverty and inequality continue to shape daily life. Public services are often unreliable, while corruption scandals have eroded trust in political leadership. For many communities, the promises of democracy remain painfully distant.

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In such circumstances, frustration, anger and disappointment are understandable. African psychology, as articulated within a relational understanding of human life, invites us to read these tensions not as discrete eruptions of violence, but as expressions of a disturbed communal harmony in which the moral and affective fabric of relatedness has been fractured. African psychology, according to Augustine Nwoye, is a cultural and relational system of thought that understands human behaviour, identity, and wellbeing as fundamentally rooted in communal interconnectedness, moral order, and shared meaning. So, when people feel powerless in the face of large and complex challenges, they may redirect their anger towards those who appear vulnerable, accessible and different.

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