Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: Establishing the Territory
- 2 Immigration, Nations and National Identity
- 3 ‘A White Man's Land’: Indian Immigration and the 1913 Immigrants Regulation Act
- 4 Not White Like Us: Preserving the ‘Original Stocks’ and the Exclusion of Jewish Immigrants
- 5 Building an Unhyphenated Nation: British Immigration and Afrikaner Nationalism
- 6 One (White) Nation, One Fatherland: Republicanism, Assisted Immigration and the Metaphysical Body
- 7 Democratic South Africa: Inclusive Identities and Exclusive Immigration Policies
- 8 Conclusion: Nationalisms, National Identities and South Africa's Immigration Policies
- Notes to Chapters
- Appendix 1 Total, immigration and emigration, and net gain/loss in migration, by sex, 1924–2004
- Appendix 2 Immigration by country of previous permanent residence, birth and citizenship, 1924–2004
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Democratic South Africa: Inclusive Identities and Exclusive Immigration Policies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 October 2019
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: Establishing the Territory
- 2 Immigration, Nations and National Identity
- 3 ‘A White Man's Land’: Indian Immigration and the 1913 Immigrants Regulation Act
- 4 Not White Like Us: Preserving the ‘Original Stocks’ and the Exclusion of Jewish Immigrants
- 5 Building an Unhyphenated Nation: British Immigration and Afrikaner Nationalism
- 6 One (White) Nation, One Fatherland: Republicanism, Assisted Immigration and the Metaphysical Body
- 7 Democratic South Africa: Inclusive Identities and Exclusive Immigration Policies
- 8 Conclusion: Nationalisms, National Identities and South Africa's Immigration Policies
- Notes to Chapters
- Appendix 1 Total, immigration and emigration, and net gain/loss in migration, by sex, 1924–2004
- Appendix 2 Immigration by country of previous permanent residence, birth and citizenship, 1924–2004
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This situation has been further aggravated by the influx of illegal aliens from the neighbouring countries in particular, where conditions of economic deprivation and depression occur and who are consequently prepared to work for meagre wages …. With whatever empathy and understanding one may judge the underlying reasons and motivation why people are compelled to leave their fatherland and to seek refuge here, the interests of the RSA and her citizens and legal residents must be our first and foremost consideration.
Dr Mangosutho Buthelezi, Minister of Home Affairs, 10/3/19951The aim of the Department of Home Affairs is to protect and regulate the interests of the inhabitants of the Republic of South Africa, in respect of their individual status, identity and specific rights and powers.
Department of Home Affairs, ‘Strategic plan’, 20072In 1994 South Africa was once again reinvented, this time as the new democratic of the Republic. For the first time since the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, all South African citizens have been able to vote, participate in the life and affairs of the state, and have equal access to its resources. The elections of 1994 allowed the African National Congress (ANC) elected government to embark on a nation-building project to bring together the diverse population of South Africa, a population that had been actively fighting against each other in the struggle for liberation. As on all previous occasions when South Africa has undergone significant change in its national identity and national form, the question of immigration has come to the fore.
The reinvention of South Africa as a country with a strong commitment to diversity and human rights stands in stark contrast to the images transmitted across the world of a Mozambican, Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave, being burned alive in Johannesburg on 18 May 2008 for being a foreigner. He was one of over 65 black Africans (mostly migrants, immigrants and refugees) who were killed in a wave of xenophobic attacks on black African foreigners across South Africa in 2008. The attacks led to thousands of others being forced out of their homes and into camps, community centres, mosques and churches or back to their home countries. These were not the first physical attacks on foreigners since 1994. The first took place in the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg in late 1994 and early 1995.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Selecting ImmigrantsNational Identity and South Africa's Immigration Policies 1910-2008, pp. 137 - 170Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2009