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The socio-economic impacts of xenophobia in South Africa: a case study of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole

Xenophobia became known as manifest of relations and perceptions of an "in–group" towards an "out-group", including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggressions, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity. This study aims to address the socio-economic impacts of xenophobia in South Africa. As a matter of fact, the 2008 xenophobia attacks amongst others were violent and acted as visible wake-up call to the country to focus attention on the reality of human migration. South African democratic constitution recognises immigration, and gives multiple reasons why nationals from other countries have to migrate to settle in South Africa. This study was grounded within the field of Development studies and undertook a case study of investigating the socio- economic impacts of xenophobia in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole (NMBM) as a case study. The study employed the use of semi- structured interviews whereby a questionnaire was used to guide the researcher in the interview process. A total of 40 officials were interviewed, ranging from governmental department through to civil societies to private immigration consultants and immigrants in South Africa, in order to avoid the generation of biases. The data obtained from respondents were presented, analysed, and discussed. From the data collected, it was possible to single out the impacts of xenophobia in NMBM. Some of the consequences generated from the fact that the community need more awareness programs, the local and national government need to capacitate the citizens to create sustainable jobs and the DoHA‟s activities greatly relegate immigrants to the backyard. Based on the study findings, the main recommendations offered to NMBM was to create a forum to advice the DoHA to channel efforts into managing migration issues sustainably rather than "stopping" it. Furthermore to catalyse Civil Society and NGOs to initiate support mechanisms to hold government accountable. This will greatly provide a perfect platform for development.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:9057
Date January 2013
CreatorsYawlui, Robert Mensah
PublisherNelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Masters, MA
Formatvi, 48 leaves, pdf
RightsNelson Mandela Metropolitan University

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