Xenophobia, criminality and violent entrepreneurship: violence against Somali shopkeepers in Delft South, Cape Town, South Africa
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Date
2012
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis; Unisa Press
Abstract
Violence against Somali shopkeepers is often cited as evidence of xenophobic attitudes and violence
in South Africa. However, as argued in this article, it is not necessarily the case that such violence
is driven by anti-foreigner sentiment. Instead, as illustrated in the case of Delft, a poor, mixed-race
area in the City of Cape Town, violence against spaza shopkeepers may also be explained in
terms of criminal activities and economic competition in the form of ‘violent entrepreneurship’. This
argument is made drawing on a survey of over 100 spaza shopkeepers, a household survey, police
statistics, and interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders living in Delft. The key insight is
that despite a recent history of intense economic competition in the spaza market in which foreign
skopkeepers have come to dominate, levels of violent crime against foreign shopkeepers, 80 per
cent of whom are Somali, are not significantly higher than against South African shopkeepers.
In addition, while South African shopkeepers openly resent the Somali advent, most consumers
remain indifferent to their presence and certainly prefer the lower prices. While our findings cannot
be generalised beyond this case, they do alert us to the importance of locating arguments about
xenophobia in the wider context of crime and violence in South Africa, as well as paying close
attention to the local particularities that can turn general sentiment into xenophobic action.
Description
Keywords
Anti-foreigner sentiment, Criminality, Somali shopkeepers, Violent entrepreneurship
Citation
Charman, A. & Piper, L. (2012). Xenophobia, criminality and violent entrepreneurship: violence against Somali shopkeepers in Delft South, Cape Town, South Africa. South African Review of Sociology, 43(3): 81-105