“If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” ~ Jesus

It is inescapable that the unemployment rate in South Africa is statistically hazy. In spite of that, we can deductively argue that, from observation, the number of unemployed (unemployable) black is continually on the rise. Thus, to effectively interrogate the malignant xenophobic attacks towards “other” foreign nationals, the unemployment-rate argument needs to be taken cognizant of.
The pie-in-the-sky post-94 South Africa that was envisioned during the apartheid era remains a figment of the imagination. Nevertheless, with our country framed as an economic hub in the African continent, the influx of foreign nationals in post-94 South Africa has skyrocketed. These foreigners comprise predominantly African immigrants, and as such they are home and can be housed as potential role-players in the economic development of the country and the continent as a whole.
However, certain groups of South African citizens have found these so-called immigrants as a potential threat to their source of livelihood, which, by all means, sounds logic only when considered in oblivion of the multitude factors at play. One’s argument ebbs at the realization that white capital breeds the contempt towards other blacks, essentially, the access to this capital is the mother of the present-day prevalent xenophobia. Thus, those who have the foothold over the capital are more likely the culprits towards which the pent-up anger witnessed in Azanian citizens should be channeled.
This puts white supremacy and the media, through which it expresses itself, on a chokehold. The very idea that a large number of blacks are unemployed (unemployable) is emblematic of white supremacy, hence, the reluctance to employ blacks is an indirect funding of the black-on-black violence that has played out in our land. What’s presumed here is that blacks that are able to generate capital do so illegitimately, or that the minority that has access to white capital is accorded certain privileges and therefore are intellectually superior and are a special breed of blacks.
However, the premises of the above argument falters when put to the test, but, contrariwise, they rise to the height of proving the anti-blackness inborn within the system. Black-on-black violence (xenophobia is an ambiguous term, and, it trivializes the status quo of the situation!) is a strategic manoeuvre that enthrones white supremacists above blacks, and, it is counter-revolutionary. When blacks view other blacks – irrespective of their nativity – as a threat to their survival, that’s where white supremacy derive its strength, and that’s the divide-and-rule mechanism playing itself out.
Africans are Africans, and what unifies them is beyond ethnicity and geographic locations, but, what unites Africans is their shared racial identity and the Afro-typical socio-economic profiles. The enemy is, and has always been, white supremacy, thus, the revolution should target the dethronement of white supremacists, and, seek to level the playing field, not only for blacks but also for all other races. However, this is only possible if blacks can unite, form one front and do away with violence towards other blacks.

By Blessing Mavuso