An ethical approach to the xenophobia against foreigners in South Africa

Abstract

Solomon (2013) argues that Xenophobia, simply put, is the fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers; it is embodied in discriminatory attitudes and behaviour, and often culminates in violence, abuses of various types, and manifestations of hatred. Theoretically, he argues that the best and only solution is to remove enemy images; therefore, the goal of removal of the enemy images ought to be pursued with much conscientiousness. To this extent, this paper systematically attempts to deploy an ethical approach to explore the problem of xenophobia which has pervaded the attitudes of South Africans in recent times (Mnyaka, 2003). The work will attempt to uncover what has contributed to the enemy images of foreigners, and how such images can be removed from or, failing that, substantially ameliorated in the national consciousness of South Africans so as to change for the better, the current antipodal relations between indigenous South Africans and foreigners. Specifically, the work takes as its point of departure the ethical framework of Botho/Ubuntu to dialogue with the problem of the study, emphasizing the role of political leadership to this effect (Dalamo, 2013:7).