Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters A Democratic Alliance supporter wrapped in a banner depicting party leader Mmusi Maimane.

DURBAN, South Africa — The health minister claims they crowd hospitals. The largest opposition party promises to secure the borders against them. Police stop them at random, demanding to see their IDs. And sometimes their own neighbors violently turn against them, looting their shops, stabbing them in the street, and even burning them alive. African nationals living in South Africa — whether as undocumented migrants, asylum-seekers, refugees, or citizens — have long struggled for full inclusion in society. But advocates say that their situation has worsened as elections approach and that the rise of global nationalism, particularly in the US from President Donald Trump, is to blame. South Africans will cast their votes on May 8 in the first election since a massive corruption scandal took down the country’s last elected president, Jacob Zuma. Immigrant rights advocates worry not only that politicians will continue to use Africans as scapegoats but that the acts of violence committed against them will get worse in the so-called Rainbow Nation. Vusumuzi Sibanda is chairperson of the African Diaspora Forum, an organization that combats xenophobia by acting as a watchdog whenever public figures make anti-immigrant statements and by fostering dialogue between South Africans and other African nationals. Sibanda, a Zimbabwean who has been living in South Africa for the past 19 years, told BuzzFeed News from his office in downtown Johannesburg that he believes South African politicians have been influenced by the growth of nationalist politics around the world, especially in countries like the US and the UK. This populist mentality, combined with South African politicians’ refusal to take responsibility for failing public services, has made the African immigrant community the target for all the country’s ills, he added. Just as Trump’s immigration policies have demonized people not born in the US under the guise of protecting Americans and giving them better opportunities, South African political parties are capitalizing on the chance to promote similar policies at the expense of Africans who weren’t born in South Africa. During the launch of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party’s manifesto in Durban — a city on the eastern coast of South Africa — in January, President Cyril Ramaphosa talked about the importance of “effective border management” in order to ensure public safety, and promised to come down harder on illegal trading and the selling of counterfeit products, the latter of which is a commonly held perception about undocumented African migrants.

Sumaya Hisham / Reuters President Cyril Ramaphosa

Two months later, two separate attacks on African migrants took place in Durban. At least six people were killed, and another 150 were forced to flee their homes until the violence subsided. Human Rights Watch and the African Diaspora Forum condemned the xenophobic attacks and argued that they were a direct result of Ramaphosa’s comments. But throughout this campaign season, the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party — the official opposition party, with 89 of 400 seats in Parliament — has been the most vocal when it comes to taking a hard stance on immigration. Its posters promising to “Secure Our Borders” are seen throughout Johannesburg, and the current mayor, DA member Herman Mashaba, is notorious for the anti-immigrant statements he’s made in the past. In November, in an exchange on Twitter with someone over the potential risks of selling meat in the city, he wrote, “We are going to sit back and allow people like you to bring us Ebolas in the name of small business. Health of our people first. Our health facilities are already stretched to the limit.”

We are going to sit back and allow people like you to bring us Ebolas in the name of small business. Health of our people first. Our health facilities are already stretched to the limit https://t.co/rbPFqlpy1K

Sunday Times / Getty Images Democratic Alliance supporters during the party's manifesto launch in February.

Rather than address those issues, Sibanda added, officials blame foreigners, not only for taking space away from South Africans in public hospitals but also for the trash that spills into the streets of Johannesburg townships, the rise in crime, and the lack of jobs — despite evidence showing that immigrants actually boost employment rates and economic growth in the country. But this blame is not meted out to all of South Africa’s immigrant groups; it’s aimed directly at people from other African countries, not those who come from Europe, Asia, or North or South America. Because of this, many people reject the use of the term “xenophobia” in favor of a more specific one to describe the situation in South Africa: “Afrophobia,” the fear of other Africans. Daniel Dunia, a Congolese refugee who’s lived in South Africa for 13 years, has experienced the discrimination and violence directed at African nationals in his personal and professional lives. As secretary-general for the nonprofit Africa Solidarity Network, the 44-year-old facilitates conversations between South Africans and African immigrants in order to debunk stereotypes and build peaceful relations among them. As a foreign national himself, Dunia has lived through the violence perpetrated by South Africans against immigrants. He told BuzzFeed News over coffee in downtown Durban that in 2015, local South Africans led an attack on him and thousands of other African immigrants in their neighborhood, a town called Isipingo. At least seven people were killed; Dunia said that some were thrown inside a stack of tires and burned alive — a replication of the “necklacing” tactic employed by some ANC supporters against suspected traitors in the struggle for freedom during apartheid — and dozens had their shops and homes broken into and looted. Dunia, his wife, and their three children fled their home and lost all of their most valuable possessions. They, and about 5,000 others between March and May that year, were displaced and made to live in what essentially amounted to refugee camps built by the government. Dunia and his family, who came to South Africa seeking asylum from the war in Congo, lived in the camp for six months before returning to Isipingo. Dunia said that since the 2015 attacks, a lot of progress has been made in Isipingo to mend the relationship between native South Africans and African immigrants, but ultimately, he doesn’t expect significant change to happen in the country until the government actually acknowledges xenophobia. “Action only happens when there’s been an attack, or if someone has been killed,” he said. “The government is in denial. They don’t want to project a negative image of the country.” The violence that foreign nationals face from South Africans comes specifically from black South Africans, according to Dunia. When asked whether he believed this was because black South Africans are disproportionately affected by high rates of crime and unemployment, which could make them feel even more animosity toward other black Africans whom they perceive as having “made it,” Dunia said that didn’t add up. “I don’t think they’re attacking us because they’re poor,” he said. “If someone has taken your privilege, you should be attacking them. If that were true, they would be attacking white South Africans, not the people who came to this country with less privilege than them.” And the negative sentiment toward foreigners goes beyond a person’s ID card. Sometimes foreign nationals who gain South African citizenship still deal with discrimination because they weren’t born in South Africa.

Rogan Ward / Reuters Supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters carry a poster after leader Julius Malema.

Somali businessman Ahmed Mohamed came to South Africa in 2001, seeking asylum. He was granted refugee status, eventually became a citizen (which refugees can do after 10 years), and has lived in the country ever since. Four of his six children have never even been to Somalia. But Mohamed told BuzzFeed News from his office in the wholesale warehouse he owns that while he now has the same green ID card that all other South African citizens have, he is still seen as and treated like a foreigner. “I’m a South African citizen, but I’m not welcome here,” said Mohamed. “Practically, I’m Somali, and that’s the problem. I go to public institutions and they won’t turn me away, but the stigma of being a foreigner is still there. I can still feel it.” Like Dunia, Mohamed was also targeted in the 2015 attacks. Five of the small shops he owned were destroyed. Just before speaking to BuzzFeed News, he held a meeting with some of his employees to discuss how to respond to threats that one of them had received in a nearby neighborhood. There are a few parties that have publicly defended African immigrants and advocated for better treatment of them — namely, the Economic Freedom Party, known for its pro-black stance on political issues — but Sibanda has no real hope that the situation African immigrants face will improve anytime soon. And while the EFF is supported by members of the African foreign national community, it has routinely come under fire for issues ranging from allegations of members abusing women in the party to controversial statements about killing white Afrikaners. “As long as South Africa trails ahead of other countries in terms of development, there will continue to be problems,” Sibanda said. “People will want to come to a country where the standard of living is better. The government needs to recognize that.”●