Land and Belonging
A response to the recent attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa.
The land question can never be separated from belonging. The space we occupy and resources therein cannot be made illegal through the systematic failure of governance.
When a system is stressed, when people are fighting over resources that should never be scarce, that desperation can be manipulated. That manipulation currently puts South Africa and foreign migrants under threat.
In response to the recent attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa, NELGA unequivocally affirms every person’s right, irrespective of their migrant status or documentation, to safety, dignity, and autonomous movement .
Evidence consistently shows that migrants support local economies, pay taxes, create employment and invest in communities they live in. The burden on South Africa’s public resources is a product of policy and governance failures, yet the anger of the poor and working class is being channeled towards the African “other” rather than those accountable. This is not the spontaneous response of desperate people. It is cynical manipulation by populist opportunists.
As a network focused on land governance across Africa, we know that insecure land tenure, unresolved land reform and absence of inclusive spatial policy are root drivers of poverty. This precarity makes scapegoating possible. South Africa’s ongoing failure to address structural injustice has created a landscape of polarised politics, where migrants are being used as a distraction from state accountability.
NELGA calls on governments, institutions, and policymakers across the continent to respond to this crisis with evidence, not blame. To use research being done throughout our network and others, providing evidence to foster stronger relationships between African nations and African people, giving everyone the right to belong.
PLAAS, the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape, in Cape Town, is a founding member of the NELGA network, and has issued the following statement on the ongoing attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa.
Read the PLAAS Statement here.
Further Reading
OECD/ILO (2018). How Immigrants Contribute to South Africa’s Economy. OECD Publishing.
World Bank (2015). Land Conflict, Migration, and Citizenship in West Africa. World Bank Group.