“South Africa belongs to all who live in it”

Abstract

A growing body of literature on media and xenophobia in South Africa has shown that the depictionof immigrants by the mainstream print media is overwhelmingly negative, and this in turn enforcesnegative stereotypes that contribute to further xenophobic attacks. This paper adds a dimensionthat is missing from existing research to focus on media representation of immigrants withinquestions around citizenship and identity.. The arguments driving this paper are inspired by theproclamations in the South African Constitution preamble, which states that “South Africa belongsto all who live in it, united in our diversity”. This paper analyses how selected print media in thecountry construct immigrants in the context of identity and belonging. We start from the premisethat as a social institution, the media play an important role in shaping policies on immigrationthat have a bearing on these matters. Using theories of media and national identity, the paperexamines thematic frames used by the selected newspapers to construct the image of immigrantsduring three periods of xenophobic violence, in 2008, 2015, and 2017. Our main argument isthat while the media have played a significant role in creating awareness about the scourge ofxenophobia, they have, wittingly or unwittingly, used narrative frames that justify the exclusion offoreigners, thereby entrenching a perception of insiders and outsiders, citizens and non-citizens.In the process, they also reinforce fears of a national takeover by the foreign “other”. Thesearguments hold significance in the broader debates about the transformation of the print mediaand its role in the on-going process of nation-building.

Structural forces shape xenophobia in South Africa: Looking beyond the human agent

“…Scholars of immigration and the media have established that media representations and characterizations of refugees or migrants can influence public opinions of citizens and actions (Cisneros, 2008). Scholars also note that negative reporting about immigrants and immigration generally engenders prejudice and violent xenophobia against non‐citizen refugees and migrants (Cisneros, 2008; Chiumbu, 2018). Immigration scholars studying media coverage of immigration and xenophobia in South Africa have also argued that negative media coverage in South Africa tends to reinforce negative attitudes of citizens towards foreigners in the country (Nyamnjoh, 2006; Chiumbu, 2018).…”

“…As Nyamnjoh (2006) argued, the majority of the media in South Africa tend to characterize immigrants and immigration in negative terms which in turn perpetuates negative images about non‐citizens, which then creates a condition for the possibility of prejudices and violent attacks against those perceived as outsiders. In his analysis of the print media representation of migrants in South Africa, Chiumbu (2018) also argued that most of the print media tend to reinforce ideas of ‘Us’ vs ‘Them’ or ‘insiders’ vs ‘outsiders’ which then tends to create public perception that South Africa does not belong to non‐citizens. Such scholars therefore argue that negative or unfavourable representations of foreigners in South Africa tend to entrench and heighten sentiments and violence against foreign nationals in the country.…”

“…By presenting examples of media representation of immigrants and immigration in South Africa, I am not suggesting that there is a direct causal link between these contents and xenophobic incidents on the ground but to suggest that media content on foreigners tend to frame discourse and action taken against non‐South Africans. There is ample academic literature internationally that established a relation between media depictions of a particular group and how that particular group is perceived and treated by the larger society (Chiumbu, 2018; Cisneros, 2008; Seo & Sezgi Kavakli, 2022; Wright, 2002).…”