The experience of xenophobia among informal immigrant entrepreneurs : the case of francophone African immigrants in Pretoria

Abstract

Xenophobia and Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs in Pretoria have negative and positive consequences in the host society respectively. This study offers a detailed examination of how Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs experience xenophobia in Pretoria while conducting their business. It asks fundamental questions such as; do individual Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs experience xenophobia while conducting their business differently from Anglophone or Lusophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs in Pretoria? How does the individual experience of xenophobia among Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs who conduct informal business on sidewalks, differ from those who conduct informal business at street corners, on municipal stalls or in small shops? The study adopts an interpretivist methodological approach and a case study method to conduct qualitative in-depth interviews with open-ended questions to collect data in order to find out how Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs are discriminated against by South Africans while conducting their business in Pretoria; to determine the type of harassment that Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs experience in Pretoria while conducting their business; to establish the perpetrators of xenophobic attacks against Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs while conducting their business; and to understand why Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs in Pretoria are attacked while conducting their business. The study found different ways Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs in Pretoria experience discrimination while conducting their business. For example, the study found how “skipping” Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs to buy from local informal traders is an experience of discrimination that is common among Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs. The study also found that officials of the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) would impound the goods belonging to Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs who have valid trading licences to conduct informal trade in the designated area without any justification or explanation. While local informal traders who conducted informal trade without valid trading permits in the same area were allowed to carry on trading and their goods were not impounded. The study establishes different types of virtual, verbal, and physical harassment that Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs have experienced in Pretoria while conducting their business. It also establishes that high school boys; political affiliates, workers iv of Tshwane waste management service, football fans; members of “Izikhothane;” “Operation Dudula are among the perpetrators of xenophobic attacks against Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs in Pretoria while conducting their business. Lastly, the study found secular and nonsecular reasons why Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs are attacked in Pretoria while conducting their business. For example, this study establishes that Francophone African informal immigrant entrepreneurs in Pretoria were attacked while conducting their business because they fail to lend money to South Africans or when they call the police about South Africans who were taking the law into their own hands against them.