Racism in South Africa

Racism in South Africa is widely regarded as an ongoing problem. Since the demise of Apartheid it remains a societal and an institutionalised problem.

Colonial racism

During the Colonial era, the Cape served as strategic base for the Colonial expansionist interests in the east. For this purpose settlements were established by the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, followed by Britain seizing the Cape Colony in 1806 during the Napoleonic wars, resulting in some areas being governed by the British and some by the Dutch.[1]

The region attracted ivory and slave traders who imported slaves for wheat farming and viticulture to serve the European settlements. In response to Colonial subjugation, fleeing black natives and slaves, joined existing groups such as the Xhosa or formed groups that were headed by warlords such as those of Bloem, Kok and Barends families. By the late 18th century, Arabs and Europeans traded beads, brass, cloth, alcohol and firearms in return for slaves, ivory, gold, wax, cattle and skins. The profits from these trade practices encouraged the warlords to hunt elephants and slaves by raiding the local communities such as Rolong, Tlhaping, Huruthshe and Ngwaketse. During the Difaqane, the Zulu under Shaka overran many smaller tribes and enslaved them.[1]

Although slavery was formally abolished in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, slaves were continued to be imported from Britain's established settlements in India and the East Indies. The practice of importing slaves from India stretches back to the 1600s when the Dutch bought slaves from various parts of India who were sold by the then Muslim rulers. By the early part of the 18th century, 80% of the slaves were South Asians who were not just from the Indian subcontinent but also those South Asians who were living in South-East Asian countries such as Java.[2]

The Roman-Dutch law defined slaves as property that could be traded, bought and sold, a form of slavery known as 'chattel slavery'. There are many examples of racism and discriminatory practices during the Colonial period such as whipping, starvation, being forced to work for long hours, laborers having to carry passes, being subject to high taxation, not being able to walk on the sidewalks, banned from living, entering or working in certain areas such as the Orange Free State.[2] Other examples include allocation of rations during the Siege of Ladysmith.

For Whites—Biscuit, 1/4 lb.; Maize meal, 3 oz.
For Indians and Kaffirs—Maize meal, 8 oz.
Europeans—Fresh meat, 1 lb.
Kaffirs—Fresh meat, 1-1/4 lbs. (Chiefly horseflesh.)
For White men—Coffee or tea, 1/12 oz.; pepper, 1/64 oz.; salt, 1/3 oz.; sugar, 1 oz.; mustard, 1/20 oz.; Vinegar, 1/12 gill.
For Indians—a little rice.

— H. W. Nevinson[3]

The word "Kaffir" was used without derogatory connotations during the Dutch and British colonial periods until the early 20th century.[4]

Apartheid racism
See also: Apartheid

Apartheid (Afrikaans pronunciation: [aˈpartɦɛit]; an Afrikaans word meaning "separateness", or "the state of being apart", literally "apart-hood") was a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the National Party (NP), the governing party from 1948 to 1994. Under apartheid, the rights, associations, and movements of the majority black inhabitants and other ethnic groups were curtailed, and white minority rule was maintained. Apartheid was developed after World War II by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party and Broederbond organizations. The ideology was also enforced in South West Africa, which was administered by South Africa under a League of Nations mandate (revoked in 1966 via United Nations Resolution 2145), until it gained independence as Namibia in 1990. By extension, the term is currently used for forms of systematic segregation established by the state authority in a country against the social and civil rights of a certain group of citizens due to ethnic prejudices.

The Indian community has been subject to Zulu racist attacks dating back to the arrival of indentured labor in South Africa which ultimately resulted in the Durban Riots of 1949 followed by riots in 1985 where homes for 1500 Indians were set on fire.[5]

Governmental racism under Apartheid

The first example of apartheid legislation was the Population Registration Act. This act was the first to force citizens to be registered under their race, and this set the stage for later racial tension. One example of apartheid legislation was the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, which was passed into law in 1959. This law forced White citizens to live in separate areas than Black citizens, and reserved much less land for the Black citizens to live, despite them making up a large majority of the population.[6] The way the South African government did this at the time was by reserving off pieces of land called Bantustans, and forcing the Black South Africans on to these pieces of land. There were 10 different Bantustans in total, all for separate ethnic groups. Once they moved on to these lands, the Black South Africans lost their rights as South Africans, and were forced to become permanent residents of the reserves. They were expected to run their own governments once they had arrived.  Economic conditions on these lands were not satisfactory for the people there, as the South African government put minimal effort policy-wise into developing these regions economically. Most of the time, residents of Bantustans would have to commute hours by bus or train to industrial zones on the border of their Bantustan. Even though the South African Government spent much money towards trying to keep the Bantustans viable, the local governments were still plagued by corruption, so normal people rarely felt the effects of the government money. In the 1970s four of these Bantustans became independent and separated entirely from the South African government, and this was the intent of the Bantustans. To keep all the Black citizens out from South Africa.[7]

Another example of restricting legislation in South Africa is the Natives (Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents) Act of 1952. This act forced Black South African citizens to carry their passbooks with them at all times. If someone was found without their passbook, they could be arrested for no reason other than that. This caused immense anger within the Black community, which would eventually spark the defiance campaign of 1952.[8]

The oppressive nature of these apartheid laws sparked some resistance within the Black South African community, and several oppositional groups were formed. One of these groups that emerged was the ANC (African National Congress), a group which eventually became involved in many resistance activities. One movement the ANC got involved in was a defiance campaign in the Black suburb of Sharpeville. This eventually led to the Sharpeville massacre, where 69 Black South Africans were killed, and 180 more were injured. This event resulted in the bloodiest apartheid protest that South Africa would see, and in the moment the Black South African community was horrified. In response, the following week was full of demonstrations, protests and marches. Because of this, the South African government saw fit to declare a state of emergency, and arrested thousands of people who had been protesting. Numbers approached 10,000 people by May, and many of these people were not released for months afterwards. Also in the fallout of the Sharpeville massacre, the South African government banned any organisations that were considered a threat to public safety or public order. This included organisations such as the ANC and the PAC (another organisation that was committed to activism for Black South Africans through peaceful protesting).[9] 

Under apartheid, Black women were affected to an extreme degree due to discriminatory racial and gender laws. There were not many opportunities for women to become  political leaders, as many organisations allowed male membership only, so not many women did get very involved with politics. There were several organizations that let women join, or had entirely separate organizations there for women to join, one such being the ANCWL or ANC Women’s League. In a protest of the Natives (Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents) Act of 1952 as mentioned above and several other pieces of legislation, many women participated in movements against the government for the first time in the form of the Defiance campaign.[10] The defiance campaign was a movement organized in part by the ANC because of new apartheid legislation from the government. Women were not the only people to take part in this campaign, but the inclusion of women is noteworthy because this was the first campaign to see major participation from women. The movement itself involved thousands of Black citizens doing nonviolent things that would normally be considered as civil disobedience, such as going into areas that only White people were allowed into, or burning their pass books. The idea behind the movement, was that if enough Black people flooded the South African prison and judicial system, then it would force the government to reform the apartheid laws. Thousands of people were arrested in a matter of months, but the campaign did not accomplish its goal of forcing radical change. However, it did capture the attention of the global community, and that of the United Nations. In time the UN would launch an investigation into the apartheid policy.[11]

In the 1980's, resistance to apartheid became extreme. The United Democratic Front was formed in order to try and unite people all over to join in the fight against government oppression. The leader of the front, Allan Boesak, called for organizations all over South Africa to help him. This included churches, civic associations, trade unions, student organizations, and sports bodies. The UDF became extremely popular among the Black community, and helped unite everyone who was fighting for equality, something that had not happened in the past. The government’s response was to declare another national emergency, and again South Africa saw thousands of arrests and hundreds of killing. However by 1990, the burden of so much public violence was too much. The government was losing its tight grip on the country, and eventually the state president, F.W. de Klerk, decided that reform was absolutely necessary. This led to the end of apartheid.[12]

Post-Apartheid racism

Although Apartheid was abolished in South Africa, and overt racism against black people is on the decline, some argue institutional racism is still common in South Africa.

Penny Sparrow, a 70-year-old real estate agent who lives in the coastal city of Durban, compared African people as a whole to dirty monkeys that litter on the previously white-only beaches and was apologetic for her remarks, defending them as being taken out of context. She was fined over R150,000 ($13,000) to which she had two months to pay off until the equality court gave her two years to pay off for the sole reason of making only R1,400 ($98.04) per month, and sentenced to two years in prison by the courts for these remarks. She later left her home after claiming to have received numerous death threats.[13][14][15]

In 2019 at UCT, a report was written by an independent commission that university leaders created to look into allegations about institutional practices. These allegations — made mostly by students but also some staff it has found evidence of “systematic suppression of black excellence in recent years” at the university, which is South Africa’s oldest and one of its strongest in research. Submissions to the commission — which came from students, staff and the public — were “rife with stories of better qualified black academics being passed over for employment and promotion in favour of white academics”. The report concludes that racism exists at UCT, “abetted by poor management systems” which “discriminate on a racial basis”. A lecturer was quoted saying “Institutional racism at UCT is practically the norm,”. Black staff members remain under-represented in the university’s senior decision-making bodies. Mamokgethi Phakeng, who became UCT’s vice-chancellor in mid-2018, has prioritized campaigning for inclusivity and racial transformation which is believed will rely on management coming on board. Ahmed Essop, an education specialist at the University of Johannesburg, co-authored a 2008 report for the country’s education department that concluded that racism and sexism are pervasive in the nation’s institutions.[16]

Two white men, Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Jackson, in 2016 were put behind bars for a racially motivated assault on a black man after they alleged he had trespassed, in 2019 their sentences and conviction was adjusted finding the pair guilty of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and kidnapping. Jackson was also sentenced for defeating the ends of justice for burning evidence.[17][18][19]

The Afrikaans group AfriForum - which has denied that apartheid was a crime against humanity - has protested murders of white farm owners, some of which they claim are racially motivated. Some protesters raised the old apartheid flag which now legally amounts into hate speech and harassment, but AfriForum publicly distanced themselves from them. Other protesters sang the part of the South African national anthem called "Die Stem", which is associated with apartheid, leaving out the rest of the anthem. Protesters claimed that these symbols are part of their culture.[20][21][22][23][24]

A case had been opened on the behalf of a young man fighting for his life in hospital. A white man and his sons allegedly attacked Mthunzi Sibuyi, a young black man, who sustained head injuries from the attack. While he was walking out and saying goodbye to his friends, suddenly got hit on the head, fell and subsequently hit his head on the concrete. Sibuyi's friend alleges that the white men uttered "k***ers getting comfortable with the white girls!" The white men proceeded to sexually harass the girls (who have laid charges against the father and his sons) up until the point that the group decided to leave to prevent any more of such incidents. While they walked away the white men followed them and attacked Sibuyi, thereafter a scuffle began between these two groups before the security guards stopped it by pulling them apart. Sibuyi's friend further alleges the white man attempted to drive over another one of the friends, Yasin Yildirim.[25]

A group of white men allegedly verbally abused and humiliated staff at a restaurant near Stellenbosch. In response to this a black student claimed their response was that anyone who did not speak Afrikaans was an alien in the area. He said that "They were whistling at them like they were whistling [at] dogs. They even jumped over the counter and they were patting them like they were dogs. After deciding to leave the restaurant the three white men and four other young white men allegedly followed him outside and proceeded to hit him.[26][27]

In another incident after organizing a peaceful demonstration to support inclusivity and diversity at the inauguration of a white rector at the Stellenbosch University Duma received a text message that read "Jou swart moer van die wit boer" — "You black bastard from a white farmer."[28][29]

Tumi Mpofu said he was denied a restaurant reservation after giving his surname and said the restaurant alleges it was full, however he said when he asked a white friend to check by making a reservation after his, his white friend got a reservation.[30][31][28]

Thabang Moisiako, a black athlete, had his head smashed onto a pavement at a bus stop. The attack was allegedly performed by a group of white students who Moisiako said attacked him when he criticised their racist remarks to another man. The attack was allegedly racially motivated and caused Moisiako to be hospitalised due to his injuries.[32]

Vicki Momberg, a prominent real estate agent and now a former fugitive was sentenced to three years in prison and one suspended on four counts of crimen injuria for racist remarks she made to a black police officer in Johannesburg. She was the victim of a smash and grab incident and a black police officer approached her to assist her. She responded by verbally abusing him and making racial remarks about the "low caliber of black people in Johannesburg" and used the derogatory K-word 48 times in a video-clip of the incident. She was meant to appear in the Randburg magistrate’s court on August 1, 2019 to start her sentence but did not arrive, she handed herself over on the 6th of November 2019 and subsequently denied bail.[33][34][35][13][36][37]

In 2019 a series of prosecutions exposed the activities of a militant supremacist group known to South African intelligence as the “Crusaders”. The leader, a former pastor and veteran of the SADF is alleged to be well-known on social media platforms for inciting hatred. The groups intent was allegedly to destabilise the country, a factory manufacturing arms was discovered along with plans to bomb or attack settlements and malls targeting black South Africans, these have been described as “terrorist attacks” aimed at black South Africans.[38][39][40]

A black petrol attendant is attacked in an apparent racially fueled attack that was caught on camera. The fall-out began when the petrol attendant asked two white men not to smoke next to the petrol pumps then later asked them to move to another pump because the one they were at did not have the grade of petrol they needed, they then began to attack him with racial slurs then the altercation soon escalated into a fist fight that saw over four white men attacking the petrol attendant before his colleagues and eventually police intervened.[41][42]

Mr Nathan Maluleke, a 60 year old golf instructor was brutally attacked with a golf club in 2013 and this vicious assault left him with head injuries and fighting for his life in hospital. The incident started over racial abuse and escalated into an attack. Mr Maluleke had noticed a group that was making a lot of noise, using vulgar language and the K-word being used repeatedly, he put his golf bag in the boot of his car, approached the woman walking behind two young men in the group, apparently the woman using the language, to ask her to tone it down as the language being used was not good for the integrity of the place and was generally offensive, as he was speaking to the woman, one of the two men, Matthew van der Walt, turned back and started attacking Mr Maluleke. Nathan ended up on the ground bleeding after being hit over the head with a golf club, Matthew admitted to have continued hitting him and punching him while on the ground as he showed off his hands to other people.[43][44]

A 38-year-old man, Ron Rambebu, was viciously attacked and called a k-word at a petrol station while he was sitting in his car on Kingfisher Road in Horizon Park, Roodeport, on the West Rand. "At first I didn't know what was happening because I had just paid the attendant and was getting ready to leave, so my initial thought was that I was being hijacked. I felt an intense amount of pressure on my face but didn't understand what it was - I thought maybe the station was collapsing," Rambebu said. In the video, the father of three is seen being approached by the attacker. It does not seem like any words are exchanged before the attacker punches Rambebu multiple times through the vehicle's window. Rambebu does not appear to be retaliating during the attack but he attempts to drive off before parking his vehicle and chasing his attacker with a spanner. His attacker is then seen boarding a white Ford Mustang and driving off with his associate.[45]

“I’ve had responses from social media that say, ‘You deserve it. Why were you stopping to help white people anyway?’ which is absolutely disturbing for a country that has been democratic for the past 25 years,” Samora Mangesi said. A well known South African entertainment news broadcaster and presenter he had been driving with two of his women friends around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday when they noticed that a car had flipped over onto the side of the road and four of its passengers already out of the vehicle. Mangesi said. They all appeared to be in their early twenties. “We asked if they were OK, if they needed us to call someone,” Mangesi said. “First reaction we got was them saying, ‘Go [away], monkeys,’ in Afrikaans.” and to Mangesi's friends “...black bitches.” Though he was under no illusions that racism had been eradicated in South Africa despite it being nearly 25 years since apartheid, he had never been called a monkey or any other racial epithet before. A heated argument ensued, Mangesi didn’t notice when someone else, who he now believes was a friend of the people in the car, came up behind him and hit him on the head with an unknown object. It’s the last thing he remembers before he lost consciousness and woke up in hospital having sustained injuries from being continuously attacked while unconscious, Samora explained, “I am not doing this for revenge, but I have realized that this is a regular occurrence in the West Rand and the next person might not survive or they haven't.”[46][47][48]

South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has found a public school guilty of hate speech towards black and mixed-race pupils. After an 18-month investigation, staff and the head teacher were found to have exposed pupils to dehumanising and racist treatment. After an 18-month investigation, staff and the head teacher were found to have exposed pupils to dehumanising and racist treatment. The Free State Department of Education, responsible for the school, says it will study the report and would hold its own investigation before taking any potential disciplinary action.[49]

In 2008, Johan Nel, a white man armed himself with a riffle and proceeded to go to a community of Skierlik, North West, then went on a killing spree. On a Monday afternoon while most Skierlik inhabitants were at work, Johan dressed in camouflage fatigues walked down a dirt road in an informal settlement and randomly started shooting at people with a hunting rifle. Spitting racist invective. He murdered Enoch Tshepo Motshelanoka a 10 year old boy child while playing, he shot Anna Moiphitlhi, 31, from a distance away, then walked up to the young mother who had fallen with her three-month-old baby girl Elizabeth in her arms, and shot the mother and her baby for the second time in proximity, he murdered Sivuyile Peyi, 36 and severely injured another 11 people, and then disappeared onto a nearby farm. He'd even been found to have paused at one point to ask neighbouring white farmers for more ammunition.[50][51]

Racism against white people

Afrobarometer research has indicated that perceptions of discrimination have increased significantly amongst citizens from minority race groups since 2011, especially among those of Indian ethnicity.[52]

It has been opined that racism against white people goes largely ignored in South Africa, and that political parties like the African National Congress and the Economic Freedom Fighters foment discontent and racial animosity for political purposes.[53]

Democratic Alliance MP Gwen Ngwenya has accused South Africans of "hypocrisy and dishonesty of treating black South Africans as the victims", noting that racism aimed at white people elicits little reaction from the populace.[54] A comparative study by trade union Solidarity confirmed that South African media give more attention to white-on-black racism; it also found that the South African Human Rights Commission is much more likely to self-initiate investigations into white-on-black racism, and is more lenient in cases of black-on-white racism.[55]

The F.W. de Klerk Foundation in 2016 claimed "black South Africans are far more violent and racist towards their white compatriots than vice versa" and appealed to the South African Human Rights Commission to intervene on the issue of racism and hate speech against white South Africans. Its complaint to the commission detailed "45 social media postings that incite extreme violence against white South Africans." The foundation also said "an analysis of Facebook and Twitter messages shows that by far the most virulent and dangerous racism – expressed in the most extreme and violent language – has come from disaffected black South Africans. The messages are replete with threats to kill all whites – including children; to rape white women or to expel all whites from South Africa."[56]

Anti-White violence

In 2004, William Kekana was sentenced to six life terms and 60 years in prison for crimes including murder, abduction and rape. Kekana and his deceased accomplice, Charles Fido Baloyi, kidnapped Janine Drennan, 24, her one-year-old daughter Kayla and Kayla's grandmother, Hester Rawstone, on July 31, 2003 from Arcadia in Pretoria. Drennan was then raped and all three victims were murdered. He was also being sentenced for hijacking, raping and attempted murder of a 17 year old black girl. During questioning Kekana said that Drennan, baby Kayla and Rawstone had been killed because they were white, continued on from that he'd forgiven white people for Apartheid therefore under the illusion of requesting the same in his circumstance. It was judged South Africa does not need a young man like the accused. Not now, and not in a long time.[57][58][59]

In 2009 Alice Lotter, 76, and her daughter Helen, 57, were tortured to death at their farm in Allenridge, Free State. According to forensic evidence, the victims had died excruciatingly painful deaths and had been tortured for several hours. The victims had been stabbed with broken glass bottles in their genitals and one had had her breasts removed while still alive. The police officer who found the victims stated "Miss Helen Lotter was so severely injured that I found two large pieces of her body-fat the size of my hand lying next to her on the kitchen floor where she was found covered in blood." The attackers had used the victims' blood to paint "Kill the Boer" on the walls of their homestead. In an admissible confession letter from the gardener, Joseph Hlongwane, a medical student dropout, mentions being "owed money" by the victims, suggesting it as motive, before getting drunk with a friend who later became an accomplice in the gruesome crimes. The two were also charged for the third murder victim, Bongani Landu, who was allegedly murdered on the night of 2 and 3 November 2007. He was found murdered in the veldt near town stabbed to death with a broken beer-bottle, DNA connected them to the murder.[60][61][62][63][64][65][66]

During 2014, Knowledge Mandlazi and John Tivane embarked on a killing spree in the Brits farming area. Knowledge Mandlazi was convicted of murdering 5 white men and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. In court Mandlazi stated he was motivated by a hatred for white people because of a series of “bad experiences” with whites in the past, but the judge rejected this reasoning than motivation actually being pure greed. While Mandlazi was led out of the courtroom after his conviction he gave the middle finger to the surviving victims in the gallery. His accomplice, John Tivane, a Mozambique native, was sentenced to three life terms and more than 100 years in jail.[67][68]

On February 15, 2009 a 37-year-old pregnant white woman was assaulted and raped by three coloured attackers in Port Alfred. The victim was strangled to stop her from drawing attention while the trio took turns raping her. During court proceedings one of the attackers stated their actions were the only way they could get a "white bitch."[69]

Anti-White hate-speech

A Gauteng government official, Velaphi Khumalo, in 2016 stated on Facebook "White people in South Africa deserve to be hacked and killed like Jews. [You] have the same venom. Look at Palestine. [You] must be [burnt] alive and skinned and your [offspring] used as garden fertiliser".[70] A complaint was lodged at the Human Rights Commission and a charge of crimen injuria was laid at the Equality Court, and in October 2018, has been found guilty of hate speech by the Court.[71]

In March 2018 a screenshot of a Facebook post written by EFF Ekurhuleni leader Mampuru Mampuru surfaced. The post read "We need to unite as black People, there are less than 5 million whites in South Africa vs 45 million of us. We can kill all this white within two weeks. We have the army and the police. If those who are killing farmers can do it what are you waiting for. Shoot the boer, kill the farmer." [sic]. Mampuru denies making the statement.[72]

After 76-year-old white Professor Cobus Naude was murdered in 2018, black senior SANDF officer Major M.V. Mohlala posted a comment on Facebook in reaction to Naude's murder, stating "It is your turn now, white people… [he] should have had his eyes and tongue cut out so that the faces of his attackers would be the last thing he sees".[73] Mohlala received a warning of potential future disciplinary action by the SANDF.[74] Subsequently Ernst Roets of AfriForum contrasted Mohlala's punishment against that of convicted white racist Vicki Momberg, stating "The inconsistency being applied in this country regarding minorities has reached the level of absurdity... The reality in South Africa is that a white person who insults a black person goes to prison, while a senior officer in the defence force who says white people's eyes and tongues must be stabbed out is simply asked nicely not to repeat it."[75]

A photograph emerged of a University of Cape Town student who wore a shirt which read "Kill All Whites" in a residence dining hall during early 2016.[76] The university later identified the wearer as Slovo Magida and reported the matter to the SAPS and HRC.[77] During a parliament debate on racism MP Pieter Mulder of the FF+ read out the contents of the shirt, to which some MPs shouted "Yes! Yes!".[78] As of 2018 no further action against Magida has been taken.

During April 2018 a Judicial Services Commission tribunal found that 'drunk judge' Nkola Motala's racist comments could justify his removal as a judge. Motala crashed into a wall whilst driving under the influence of alcohol in 2007. After the accident Motala swore at a white onlooker, Richard Baird, and referred to him as a 'boer'.[79]

Julius Malema leader of the third-largest party Economic Freedom Fighters stated at a political rally in 2016 that "we [the EFF] are not calling for the slaughter of white people‚ at least for now". When asked for comment by a news agency, the ANC spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa stated that there will be no comment from the ANC, as "[h]e [Malema] was addressing his own party supporters." This was however met with backlash from white and black South Africans.[80] While still the ANCYL leader, Malema was taken to the Equality Court by AfriForum for repeatedly singing "dubul' ibhunu", which literally translate as "shoot the boer [white farmer]." This was sung as a struggle (against Apartheid) song in context. At another political rally in 2018 he stated "Go after a white Man... We are cutting the throat of whiteness." This was in reference to the removal of Athol Trollip, a white mayor, from office in Port Elizabeth"[81]

This led to the DA accusing the EFF's leader, Malema, of racism and not sharing the more tolerant views of South Africans broadly.[82]

Violence against foreign nationals

The riots of 2008, which left dozens of foreigners dead, included attacks against Maputos.[83] After violence targeting foreign nationals in Johannesburg resulted in 12 deaths in the first week of September 2019, Nigerian authorities offered to airlift 600 of 100,000 Nigerians from the country.[84] The South African minister of home affairs blamed diseases on sick foreigners.[85][86] The events in Johannesburg were amplified with fake news on social networks.[87]

Racism against coloured people

In 2013 Wayne Blaauw, a 25 year old coloured man and father of two, was murdered by approximately 60 black residents of the Middelpos informal settlement. Blaauw's father stated Blaauw's face had been hacked "from ear-to-ear" with a panga, his skull had been broken and his entire body was covered in bruises. After his death a neighbour of Blaauw stated "Die swartes het dit duidelik gemaak dat hulle nie gaan ophou voordat ons almal dood is nie" ("The blacks have made it clear that they will not stop before we are all dead"). Another coloured man, Denver Telmarks, narrowly escaped the mob while travelling to repair a fridge in Middlepos. Telmarks said "Hulle het geskree dat hulle ons almal gaan vrek maak die dag as Madiba sterf" ("They shouted that they're going to kill us all when Madiba dies").[88]


Racism against Indian/Asian people

There are over 1.2 million South Africans of Indian descent, with the majority being situated in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Racial populism and anti-minority sentiment is an increasing worry in post-Apartheid South Africa. Afrobarometer research has indicated that perceptions of discrimination have increased significantly since 2011 against citizens from minority race groups, especially among those of Indian ethnicity.[52]

In 2015, Phumlani Mfeka, a KwaZulu-Natal businessman and the spokesman for the radical Mazibuye African Forum tweeted "A good Indian is a dead Indian".[89][90][91] He published a letter in the city press claiming that South Africans of Indian origin have no right to citizenship and property in South Africa. Mfeka also claimed there is a "ticking time bomb of a deadly confrontation" between Africans and Indians in KwaZulu-Natal. The South African court barred him from making anti-Indian remarks in Nov 2015.[92]

In 2017, political leader Julius Malema stated during a rally in KwaZulu-Natal "They are ill-treating our people. They are worse than Afrikaners were. This is not an anti-Indian statement, it's the truth. Indians who own shops don't pay our people, but they give them food parcels," and accused local politicians of being in the pockets of Indian businesspeople.[93] Malema also said that the success of Indian businesses in the province was due to their strategies of exploitation and monopolisation of the economy.[94] Malema also referred to Indians in 2011 as 'coolies' (which is considered a strongly offensive pejorative term in contemporary South Africa).[95]

Complaints of attacks on the ethnic Chinese community on social media have led to charges being filed against certain white individuals. The Chinese Association in Gauteng planned to also file a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission.[96]

Racism against Jewish people
See also: Antisemitism in South Africa

Vigilante group PAGAD is believed to be responsible for bombings between 1998 and 2000 targeted at synagogues.[97] PAGAD's leaders have become known for making anti-semitic statements. A 1997 incendiary bomb attack on a Jewish bookshop owner was found by police to have been committed with the same material PAGAD has used in other attacks.[98]

In May 1998 Radio 786, a Cape community radio station run by a Muslim organisation and aimed at Muslims, broadcast a programme denying the Holocaust. The resulting legal action brought by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies remains unresolved. Radio 786 refuses to apologise to the Jewish community and has stood by its version of events.[99]

The 2001 Durban Conference against Racism (CAR) meeting was marked by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery, and coincided with attacks on Israel and anti-Israel demonstrations at a parallel conference of non-governmental organisations.[100] Canada, followed by the U.S. and Israel walked out midway through the 2001 conference over a draft resolution that, in their opinion, singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism to racism.[101]

In 2009 South Africa's deputy foreign minister Fatima Hajaig claimed that "Jewish money controls America and most Western countries." Her comments prompted criticism by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and a reported "dressing down" by President Kgalema Motlanthe.[102] She subsequently apologised on two separate occasions for her remarks.[103]

In 2013 ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman claimed 98 percent of land and property owners in Cape Town are "white" and "Jewish". The allegation turned out to be false.[104]

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See also

References
  1. "South Africa - Growth of the colonial economy". Encyclopedia Britannica.
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