Violent attacks on black African migrants will not resolve national employment crisis

South Africans commemorated two significant events in May: Africa and Workers’ Days. The societal reflective moments normally evoke political nostalgia about the importance of African unity and workers’ solidarity in challenging racialised capitalism over recent decades. Yet this year’s reflections were marred by Afrophobic and tribalist attacks on black African migrants. The leaders and supporters of the movement argue that black African migrants are primarily responsible for the country’s perennial unemployment, crime and low-quality public service problems. The claims justify the violence and discriminatory stereotypes that are loaded with colonial racist assumptions. Furthermore, the organisations have not provided any evidence to substantiate the claims, especially around employment and labour absorption into various economic sectors. There is consensus that the country’s socio-economic inequality continues to affect black working-class individuals, households and communities disproportionately. Statistics South Africa’s household and labour force surveys point to racialised and gendered disparities in employment as well as household expenditure figures. But it is erroneous to attribute and reduce the structural socio-economic challenges to increased migration. What is more concerning is the essentialist Afrophobic logic that underpins the claims, which narrows systemic economic problems to individual or group identity. The unsubstantiated sweeping generalisations should be questioned on empirical and political grounds. First, South Africa has a structural unemployment problem that is not primarily caused by increased labour migration. The research evidence on the persistent labour market inequalities and unemployment points us to different core causes. For example, sectors that have historically employed large sections of the black working class have declined since the late 1980s. Deindustrialisation, trade liberalisation, deregulating financial markets and de