Xenophobia in the labour market: A South African legal and human rights perspective

This article focuses on xenophobia in the South African labour market and the effect it can and does have on foreign employees. In contrast to current scholarship that portrays xenophobia in South Africa as a consequence of anti-immigrant sentiments and stereotypes that stem from social, political, economic and cultural misconceptions, this paper argues that the causes of xenophobia are much more complex than that. In addition to those misconceptions, it is argued, xenophobia in South Africa may well have its genesis in the pre-1994 apartheid and colonialism era which sought to impose segregation and instill hatred between and among black people. The main argument in the paper, however, is that the South African legal framework and its implementation do not go far enough in addressing the problem of xenophobia in the workplace. As a result, the rights of foreign employees are negatively impacted and not sufficiently protected. To underscore this point, the paper undertakes a discussion on the legal framework and the pertinent human rights implications of xenophobia in the South African labour market before making some recommendations on what can be done to protect the rights of foreign employees better and reduce or prevent xenophobic attacks against them.