A Legal and Socio-cultural Analysis of the Relationship between Xenophobia and Taxation in South Africa
| dc.contributor.author | Animashaun, O.O. (2024). 1(1) 75-94 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-04-21T11:11:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-04-21T11:11:32Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-04-21 | |
| dc.description | Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers. It is embodied in discriminatory attitudes and behaviour, and often culminates in violence, abuses of all types, and exhibitions of hatred. Xenophobia may be limited to anti-immigration rules which unnecessarily limit immigrants’ options and made them inaccessible to health care services or educational facilities. Studies on xenophobia have attributed such hatred for foreigners to a number of causes, like- the fear of loss of social status and identity, a threat, perceived or real, to citizens’ economic success, a way of reassuring the national sovereignty and its boundaries in times of national crisis, a feeling of superiority and poor intercultural information. Xenophobia is also described as “new racism” or “cultural racism”, it must not be confused with racism; it differs from the latter of which, culture rather than race is the basis of exclusion. It is not a natural response by native populations to the presence of foreigners, rather a socio-political phenomenon that contributes to the marginalisation of migrant groups in social and national settings. Xenophobia in South Africa is more than a fear or dislike of foreigners, it is rather violent activity brought on by intense tension. Moreover, South African Xenophobic sentiments, attitudes and violence is directed mainly at fellow Africans usually of dark colour. Although it is seldomly directed at Asian, particularly Pakistanis in certain instances, which made some authors to termed it Afrophobia. Some African countries suffered due to their support of the liberation struggle in South Africa. Nigeria for instance was classified as a frontline state for its stance in opposing apartheid such that Nigeria lost its most favoured nation status (MFN) with the United Kingdom due to the South African emancipation struggle. In 1978, the Nigerian government partially nationalized the British-owned Barclays Bank and the British Petroleum (BP) and renamed the latter African Petroleum (AP) in order to dissuade the British from recognizing the puppet regime in Rhodesia. Further, in a bid to cushion the pains of the endangered states in the continent, the Nigerian government in December, 1976, launched the Southern African Relief Fund to fund the liberation of Angola, Namibia and South Africa, however it seems as if South Africans, including their elites has forgotten the sacrifice of these African countries. It is instructive to state at this juncture that the legal foundation for xenophobia may have been laid in the South African Constitution of 1996, which, in the preamble promises that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it”, but limits the protection of the law to only “every citizen”. Section 1 of the Constitution also grants an unconditional “human dignity”, but section 3 restricts it to citizens. In practical policy terms, xenophobia undermines social cohesion, peaceful co-existence, good governance and human rights observance. While it is undisputable that unrestricted immigration may be harmful on any nation, it is noteworthy to state that xenophobic attacks, which made no demarcation between legal and undocumented immigrants, have a negative effect on the economy of South Africa. It is in the light of this that this treatise examines the legal and socio-cultural impact of xenophobia on taxation in South Africa. | |
| dc.description.abstract | Xenophobia which refers to morbid hatred of foreigners is prevalent in South Africa, with the special manifestation of violent attacks on black Africans whenever there is any perception of a socio-political problem or infrastructural deficiency. The immigrants are blamed by the locals for relative prevalence of HIV/AIDS, unemployment, housing and electricity shortage and other issues. The article examines the effect of xenophobia on revenue collection in South Africa. It also discusses the adequacy of the legal protection offered immigrants, notwithstanding that they are legal or undocumented migrants, in South Africa, using the doctrinal method. The article found that the protection offered to the immigrants is deficient and that the inadequate provisions in the statutes made the black immigrants vulnerable to xenophobic attacks, which inadvertently affect the tax revenue collected by the state negatively. Further, the article found that the court has been consistently defended the rights of migrants in line with the South Africa Constitution,1996. The article concludes with certain recommendations to prevent xenophobia, in a bid to enhance tax revenue collection in South Africa. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Nil | |
| dc.identifier.citation | 1. Animashaun, O.O. (2024). A Legal and Socio-cultural Analysis of the Relationship between Xenophobia and Taxation in South Africa. KWASU Journal of Business and Private Law, 1(1) 75-94 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0795-7408 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://kwasuspace.kwasu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/6637 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Depaertment of Business and Private Law, KWASU, Malete | |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | 1; 1 | |
| dc.title | A Legal and Socio-cultural Analysis of the Relationship between Xenophobia and Taxation in South Africa | |
| dc.type | Article |
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