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tensions around housing. Hence government is auditing the occupation of RDP housing and
will take steps to ensure that only South Africans occupy this form of public shelter. NonSouth African citizens are welcome to acquire property through the usual commercial means
or to take temporary accommodation until such a time as they are able to move into their
private residences.
Government has seriously increased efforts to protect South Africa’s borders and points-ofentry. No migration policy or strategy aimed at alleviating xenophobic tensions can work if
the national borders are porous and people can come and go as they please. Such a lack of
control leads to abuse, corruption and heightens the vulnerability of people who reside in the
country illegally.
4.2 Racism
The divisions along race, ethnicity, class, political party membership, ideology and even
province in South African society remain entrenched. Racism on which was founded the
colonial and apartheid systems and the inherited structure of society that remains to this day,
is a huge challenge. A lot of work is in progress dealing with this. Interventions include the
contribution to the global fight against racism, which found the most obvious expression in
South Africa’s hosting and actively participating in the UN’s World Conference against
Racism in 2000. The promotion of non-racism efforts formed part of nation-building and
national reconciliation processes in the 1990s, and continued in various kinds of inter-racial
dialogues in the 2000s. The illegalisation of racism through a raft of laws has empowered
organs of civil society and citizens to seek legal recourse against racist acts. South Africa
has made it popular to commit to non-racism across sections of society. The removal of
racial divisions in the provision of services has continued to this day, recent cases of public
schools excluding blacks using the language of instruction and private holiday venues using
subtle ways to apply racial exclusion have been subjected to public scorn by citizens and
government. Recent incidents of racism on university campuses that were previously whitedominated have also been met with scorn and interventions by authorities have sought to
balance punitive justice and corrective action in order to build racial tolerance as part of
ethos of society. There are reported incidents of racism on commercial farms and a few
white farmers have been successfully convicted over racially-motivated crimes.
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation’s Reconciliation Barometer, 2011, using survey
research methods, examines the biggest divisions in our country. It shows that 18% of South
Africans associate most strongly with others who speak the same language, 19% with those
of the same ethnic group and 19% of the same race95. In other words it confirms the view
that race still matters very much in South Africa, of course not discounting the significant
progress in uniting the country and confronting racism, using legal instruments and positive
interventions by civil society organizations.
The Reconciliation Barometer 2011 also emphasizes that recently the biggest divisions’ in
South Africa is the gap between rich and poor’ – or income inequality. On top of strong
association by language, ethnic and racial identities, association by income group is an
emerging source of divide. Hence, the South African Human Rights Commission’s Equality
Report, 2012 refers to an element of classism which complicates the picture of racism in
95
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (2011): ‘SA Reconciliation Barometer Survey 2011 Report’, IJR, Cape Town, p. 29.
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