Kya Sands Township in Johannesburg, South Africa
Kya Sands Township in Johannesburg, South Africa. | Photo: Johnny Miller/Unequal Scenes | CC BY-SA 4.0

Xenophobic violence and spatial inequality in South Africa

In recent violent attacks against African foreigners living in South Africa 12 people were killed. While xenophobic rhetoric has become increasingly normalised in the country’s political discourse, the latest violence has had domestic and international implications. Importantly, this violence must be seen in context of the continuation of South Africa’s colonial and apartheid era structures, which still play a crucial role in most South Africans’ everyday lives. Given that land reform is an unfinished and hotly discussed political project, we argue that intense economic and spatial inequality as remnants of the past are important contributors to recent violence, specifically against foreigners in South Africa. 

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South Africa’s newly elected president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the country’s first gender equal cabinet.
South Africa’s newly elected president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the country’s first gender equal cabinet. | Photo: GovernmentZA | CC BY-ND 2.0

South Africa’s First Gender Representative Government: A New Dawn for Gender Justice?

Late on Wednesday night, South Africa’s newly (re-)elected president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the first ever gender equal cabinet of the country. As a part of his commitment for a “new dawn” for South Africa, Ramaphosa’s cabinet was selected after a thorough, not seen before consultation process. Welcomed from various corners of the country, the new government unsurprisingly drew criticism from main opposition parties. The gender representative cabinet is an important sign towards more serious political efforts to transform the country’s intense gender based inequality. However, given the male dominated networks of the political landscape, the struggle for gender equality in government and society is far from over.

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