READ: Professor Loren Landau Critiques State’s Role in Linking Immigration to South Africa’s Social Issues

Professor Loren Landau (African Centre for Migration & Society) critiques the state’s role in linking immigration to South Africa’s social issues.

“The state is now complicit in naturalising the association between immigration and social ills: water, crime, unemployment, insecurity,” Landau told Briefly News.

He explains that because the government has effectively endorsed the core messages of vigilantes, the state is now hamstrung.

The 30 June deadline represents a possible inflection point. If authorities publicly rebuke the movements, citizens may view them as hypocrites out of touch with popular opinion. If the government chooses to do nothing, it effectively surrenders its authority and the power to set the political agenda, handing control to unaccountable actors willing to use unchecked violence.

Read the article here. 

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