'Please GO HOME and BUILD Africa': Criminalising Immigrants in South Africa. Issue 5 (2nd September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alfaro-Velcamp, Theresa; Shaw, Mark
• Is Part Of: Journal of southern African studies. Volume 42:Issue 5(2016)
• Page Start: 983
• Page End: 998
• Publication Date: 2016-09-02
• Subjects: Africa, Southern -- Periodicals; 968.005
• DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2016.1211805
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-7070

Abstract

Abstract : In April 2015, a Whatsapp text message instructed millions of African immigrants in South Africa to go home. The message drew on xenophobia and afrophobia to criminalise African immigrants in South Africa. Broadly, immigrants are seen as breaking the law by illegally crossing a sovereign border and becoming illegal foreigners. Having entered the country without authorisation ('papers'), these foreigners become perceived as drug dealers, traffickers of children, squatters, facilitators/exploiters of an informal economy, and thieves stealing opportunities from South Africans. This article identifies three principle techniques of criminalising immigrants: 1) immigrants being compelled to purchase immigrant documents through illicit means to stay legally in South Africa; 2) the South African Police Service conducting raids such as Operation Fiela and arresting foreigners; 3) the South African Police Service, along with the Department of Home Affairs officials, illegally detaining immigrants. Together, these techniques contribute to the criminalisation of African foreign nationals. These techniques are increasingly characteristic of governance in the global south and explain how a Whatsapp message can reverberate throughout South Africa.