Decolonization, Neo-Apartheid and Xenophobic Violence in Phaswane Mpe's Welcome to Our Hillbrow - Pertanika

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Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (1): 457 - 470 (2021)

                                        SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES
                                                   Journal homepage: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/

Decolonization, Neo-Apartheid and Xenophobic Violence in
Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow
Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah1*, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh1, Omar Mohammed
Abdullah2, and Mohammed Fleih Hasan3
1
  English Department, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400
Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2
  English Department, College of Education for Women, Anbar University, 46001 Anbar, Iraq
3
  English Department, College of Arts, Anbar University, 46001 Anbar, Iraq

ABSTRACT
South Africa is undoubtedly one of the most unreceptive destinations in the world for
black African refugees due to the prevalent xenophobic violence since the dismantling of
apartheid in 1994. Previous research claimed that attitudes of intolerance and xenophobia
towards foreigners were results of social and economic insufficiencies. Yet, this study
argues that apartheid was not really dismantled, and that incomplete decolonization led to a
state of neo-apartheid which catalysed citizens towards aggression and intolerance against
foreigners. The article looks at Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001) by Phaswane Mpe through
the lens of Fanons’ concept of decolonization, and attributes the actions of xenophobic
violence in South Africa to the incomplete process of decolonization after apartheid. The
article concludes that unsuccessful liberation and incomplete decolonization can lead to a
state of neo-colonialism and ultimately, neo-apartheid. Xenophobic violence is triggered
                                               and motivated by the reality that nothing has
                                               really changed in South Africa even after the
                                               dismantlement apartheid.
ARTICLE INFO

Article history:
                                                                     Keywords: Decolonization, Fanon, foreigners, Mpe,
Received: 21 May 2020                                                neocolonialism, xenophobia
Accepted: 30 June 2020
Published: 26 March 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47836/pjssh.29.1.25
                                                                     INTRODUCTION
E-mail addresses:
mustafaliterature@gmail.com (Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah)              The fear of the unknown can be seen all
jshardev@yahoo.com (Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh)
omar.moh@uoanbar.edu.iq (Omar Mohammed Abdullah)                     over the world and the fear of strangers
mohamedfleih@uoanbar.edu.iq (Mohammed Fleih Hasan)
*Corresponding author
                                                                     has grown manifold because of the human

ISSN: 0128-7702
e-ISSN: 2231-8534                                                                                © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press
Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh, Omar Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Fleih Hasan

diaspora and dislocation of people from their                      Since the independence of South
native lands due to war, uprising, racism,                    Africa, xenophobic violence has escalated,
ethnic cleansing and natural calamities.                      alongside the mounting number of strangers
Xenophobia originates from the Greek                          pouring into the state. The attitude of
words xénos ‘stranger’ or ‘guest’ and                         revulsion towards newcomers is particularly
‘fear’ phóbos. Remarkably, the second                         aimed at individuals approaching from
implication, ‘guest’, has lost its validity.                  other African states (Hopstock & de
It is translated as ‘fear of strange”. M. S.                  Jager, 2011). In May 2008, countrywide
Bhatia defined xenophobia as “an irrational                   xenophobic violence broke out in South
and excessive fear of strangers or strange                    Africa, starting in the Alexandra Township
(foreign) cultures, which can often become                    in Johannesburg. The South African Human
converted into intense, Jingoistic patriotism                 Resource Commission (SAHRC) stated that
and/or racial or cultural prejudice” (2009,                   62 people were murdered and over 100,000
p. 453).                                                      were evacuated. The substantial damages
     In South Africa, xenophobia appears                      ran into millions of Rands. Jonathan Crush
as a reaction to the economic decay and                       stated that the aggressive insolences towards
the unchanging state of poverty of its                        foreign inhabitants living in South Africa had
people after liberation. The failure to                       continued to harden (Crush, 2001). Based
achieve complete decolonization after                         on numerous researchers, South Africa is
the collapse of apartheid led people to                       considered as one of the most unreceptive
be xenophobic against African migrants                        and xenophobic states worldwide. Many
because they perceive them as invaders                        sources of literature portray xenophobia as
and competitors for the nation’s scarce                       an intensely engrained, continuous, growing
resources and thus their state needs to be                    phenomenon in South Africa which will
fully decolonized. South Africa experiences                   remain to be categorized as an essential
severe discrimination with a racist system                    human rights concern in the state for the
of segregation and apartheid. William                         foreseeable future (Adjai & Lazaridis,
Beinart and Saul Dubow (2013) stated that                     2013).
“Segregation was the name coined in early                          Having garnered worldwide attention
twentieth century South Africa for the set                    and public concern, literary scholars had
of government policies which sought to                        started to record this phenomenon in the
regulate the relationship between white                       literary scholarship. Phaswane Mpe’s
and African colonizers and colonized” (p.                     Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001) is
1). The most significant discriminatory                       extensively observed as a significant work
regulation is the law that bans black Africans                in the literature of post-apartheid period.
from acquiring or renting property outside                    Similar to other novelists such as Zakes
the capital from individuals who are not                      Mda and K. Sello Duiker, Phaswane Mpe
black Africans.                                               is considered as one among the three

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Xenophobic Violence in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

who established the core principle for                    the first South African novel to explore
the post-apartheid state. The text was                    the term “Makwerekwere” is Welcome
one of the first works to address African                 to Our Hillbrow, by Phaswane Mpe. A
immigration to South Africa after apartheid,              Makwerekwere is a term constructed and
and the uncomfortable frustration with those              used in South Africa to render and categorise
immigrants in the country. Mpe’s novel                    black Africans coming from other African
stands out from many of the scripts with                  states. Saayman (2016) argued that the
its revolutionary and cautious narrative                  novel was incomparable in its crucial
style focusing on African refugees and the                request for the understanding of outsiders.
attitudes of xenophobia concentrating on                  The article argued that in his novel Mpe
them (Fasselt, 2014).                                     presents the expression “Makwerekwere” at
     Carrol Clarkson in her study “Locating               the opening of the novel (Saayman, 2016,
Identity in Phaswane Mpe›s Welcome to Our                 p. 75). The article focussed on the term
Hillbrow” (2005) explored Mpe›s treatment                 “Makwerekwere” and its connotations in
of the South African identity not only as a               South Africa and how it reflected citizens’
reaction to place, but also as a linguistic and           reactions towards foreigners. The article
physical writing in the novel. In her article,            missed to focus on the neocolonial condition
Clarkson (2005) argued that a repeated                    and the xenophobic violence in South
characteristic of numerous new novels                     Africa.
in South Africa was the examination of                         Hardev Kaur (2012) in her thesis
individual, social and ethnic characteristics             Apartheid and The Reconciliation Process
in its relation to the individual›s indecisive            in Post – Apartheid Novels of South Africa,
reactions to place. She added that Welcome to             explored the concern of xenophobia in South
Our Hillbrow thematically traced the closure              Africa and examined the reconciliation
of concepts of “home, of what establishes a               process among citizens in the post-apartheid
community” (Clarkson, 2005, p. 451). The                  era. She highlighted the issue of xenophobia
researcher focussed on how the suspension                 in Welcome to our Hillbrow, among other
of the traditions, of considerations of society           texts. She underlined the plight of the
and home, posed a test to the capability of               migrants in South Africa and posited that
the individual’s liability, and then to his               xenophobia was one of the dominant themes
understanding of his being. Thus, the study               of Welcome to My Hillbrow. Kaur (2012)
explored the concept of home and identity                 focussed on the reconciliation process in
yet failed to focus on the xenophobic                     South Africa, yet missed to underline the
violence against foreigners in South Africa.              black on black violence and the fallacy of
     Sandra Saayman (2016) in “Imagining                  the rainbow nation.
the “other” – The Representation of the                        Rebecca Fasselt (2014) in her article
African Migrant in Contemporary South                     “Towards an ‘Afropolitan Deixis’:
African Literature” stated that probably                  Hospitality and ‘You’ and ‘We’ Narration in

                            Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (1): 457 - 470 (2021)                  459
Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh, Omar Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Fleih Hasan

Phaswane Mpe›s Welcome to Our Hillbrow”                       Fanon in their influential works. In Culture
explored the notion of the spatial politics                   and Imperialism, Said (1993) was more
implied in the method of hospitality shown                    involved, as the title of his book proposes,
towards black African foreigners coming                       with the cultural dimension in the process
into South Africa. The research emphasized                    of decolonization and, particularly, in
how “hospitality towards African migrants                     chapter three of the book “Resistance and
is denied, contested and extended in the                      Opposition.” Said argued that “culture played
diverse and complex spatial arenas depicted                   a very important, indeed indispensable role,
in the text” (Fasselt, 2014, p. 99). She                      both in extending and securing empire and
claimed that the text raised the concept of                   in eroding and undermining it” (1993, pp.
generosity, and the language of openness                      221-222). He defined culture as a group
went on to encompass the organization of the                  of principles, ethics, standards, customs,
whole novel. The article explored the text’s                  conducts, formalities, and a method of life
application of “you” and “we” as methods                      that could distinguish one set from the other
utilising the conception of linguistic tools.                 (Kim, 2003). Fanon (1968), in his book, paid
As such, previous studies explored notions                    more focus on the process of decolonization
of place, identity, home and hospitality, yet                 and stated that while “decolonization
overlooked the xenophobic violence and                        must always be a violent phenomenon;
its causes and consequences on the African                    Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor
and the South African communities. In this                    a body endowed with reasoning faculties…
sense, the article aspires to fill the gap of                 [it] is violence in its natural state, and it will
the study and open new horizons to study                      only yield when confronted with greater
xenophobia in South Africa and to unearth                     violence” (1968, p. 61).
the reasons behind it. As mentioned above,                          In The Wretched, Fanon (1968) argues
previous studies focused on the economic                      that colonialism is totalitarian, with the
and the social factors of the phenomenon,                     ‘native’ experiencing domination internally
whereas the current study attempts to revisit                 and externally. In fact, there is no occupation
the past of South Africa and to review the                    of the country, he argues, without the
decolonization process of the state. The                      occupation of the people, and thus there
decolonization is incomplete and this leads                   is no liberation of the country without the
the state to fall in a neocolonial\neoapartheid               liberation of all the people. Colonialism,
reality which is the argument of the article.                 according to Fanon is a complete process.
                                                              It is constructed on segregation and
METHOD                                                        subjugation, the colonized is regulated
                                                              and relentlessly ordered not to relocate.
The concept of Decolonization was
                                                              Liberation, in this context, consists of
addressed by numerous theoreticians like
                                                              terminating these inner and exterior fences
Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Frantz
                                                              which did not happen in South Africa in the

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Xenophobic Violence in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

post-apartheid period and as a consequence                opinions of it as a perpetually warring and
xenophobia has become a dominant culture                  suffering ‘tribal’ state.
against foreigners.                                           Eventually, a Fanonian perception
    According to Fanon, decolonizing                      maintains that we need to perceive the
the land is not enough, it is important to                pleasantness of South Africa’s political
decolonise the mind as well; otherwise, the               independence from apartheid as unpleasant,
process of decolonization is not complete.                recognised instantly when “the people find
He argued that it “is not possible to take                out the ubiquitous fact that exploitation
one’s distance with respect to colonialism                can wear a Black face” (Fanon, 1968, p.
without at the same time taking it with                   145). This is in reference to the exploitation
respect to the idea that the colonised holds              and xenophobia practised by black South
of himself through the filter of colonialist              Africans on black Africans, a process
culture” (1968, p. 114). In other words,                  of exchanging roles from oppressed to
decolonizing the mind means liberating                    oppressors. Thus, Fanon asserted that,
the state from all the rules and systems of               “decolonization is incomplete if it is not
colonialism and to create new democratic                  waged on both levels, political-economic
systems totally different from those of the               and psychological, objective and subjective”
colonizers. In The Wretched, Fanon warned                 (Fanon, 1968, p. 13). Thus, failing to
against the pitfalls of national consciousness            achieve complete decolonization will
and stated that “decolonization has to be                 produce nationwide and racial dogmatism
totalitarian and incomplete liberation may                and this will lead to the creation of a new
lead to fragmentation, chauvinism, racism                 class of “bourgeoisified Blacks”.
and xenophobia” (1968, p. 156).                               Furthermore, just as black elites pursue
    Undoubtedly, in discussing xenophobia                 political authorisation in the country,
in South Africa we cannot ignore the                      black political liberation is not liberation
political and psychological phenomena,                    from chauvinism because it leaves the
which are results of, in Fanon’s words, an                state of human liberation incomplete.
“incomplete liberation” (1968, p. 13). South              This is precisely what Fanon discussed
Africa in post-apartheid times is on the one              in his criticism of the drawbacks of
hand, expressing itself to the international              national consciousness, explicitly that
community as a prosperous, welcoming                      the “elite bourgeoisie will attain political
and a democratic state, a “rainbow nation”,               independence in the country but without
a state that every individual, no matter                  completely liberating the state” (1968, p.
what his nationality, can succeed from                    158).
unrestricted commercial marketplaces.                         At the conclusion of “Colonial War
On the other hand, it is characterised by                 and Mental Disorders”, perhaps the most
environments of paucity, violence and                     under-read chapter of The Wretched, Fanon
xenophobia, emphasising the international                 remarked that:

                            Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (1): 457 - 470 (2021)                   461
Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh, Omar Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Fleih Hasan

      Total liberation is that which concerns all              reference to the history of South Africa
      sectors of the personality. Independence                 under colonisation and apartheid and their
      is not a word which can be used as                       consequences on the citizens (Attree, 2005,
      an exorcism, but is an indispensable                     p. 146).
      condition for the existence of men                            At the end of the 1990s, Hillbrow became
      and women who are truly liberated, in                    either a rational multicultural society,
      other words who are truly masters of all                 class and ethnic group, or a deteriorating
      material means which make possible the                   urban landscape of xenophobia, violence,
      radical transformation of society (1968,                 narcotics, sex trafficking and HIV- AIDS.
      p. 310).                                                 Examples were highlighted regularly by
                                                               Refentse, the protagonist, and Cousin, his
    It is in this sense of speaking to                         cousin in the novel. In his journey, Refentse
comrades that we find expressions of                           uncovered the victims of official intolerance
Fanon’s ‘living’ dialectic. First, the concept                 demonstrated by governmental discourse
of total liberation as a product of the                        and popular rejection practised by Cousin
process of social liberation; and second,                      and his colleagues, an obvious demonstration
true liberation as the liberation from all                     of the continuity of apartheid in the post-
forms of alienation, and as the returning to                   apartheid age. During the apartheid era,
human beings all of their creative powers                      foreigners, like black Africans were blamed
which Fanon emphasized on in the pitfalls                      for stealing whatever scarce resources there
of national consciousness (1968, p. 315).                      were, from others and were apprehended
                                                               and found guilty for the outbreak of most
RESULT: INCOMPLETE                                             of the communal misfortunes in society.
DECOLONIZATION IN WELCOME                                      The many victimized, stigmatized and
TO OUR HILLBROW                                                embittered people living in Hillbrow now
The issue of xenophobic violence and                           become perfect perpetrators of xenophobic
inhospitality towards outsiders is embedded                    crimes of the worst kind. As shown in the
in every aspect of Welcome to our Hillbrow                     text, foreigners are being blamed by South
(Fasselt, 2014). Phaswane Mpe in an                            Africans for all the corruption, criminality,
interview with Lizzy Attree (2005) clarified                   poverty and all other ills that have befallen
that he contemplated the practice of tackling                  their society even though they realize that
topics such as xenophobic violence in                          these foreigners are not the main cause of
the novel as not burdensome, “but an                           these ills. As Fanon warned, citizens would
opportunity to explore stories that have                       not be able to direct their anger towards the
not been told on the one hand and on the                       source, thus they would target the vulnerable
other, to revisit old stories, retell them in a                section of society. So, foreigners will be
new context and see what you can learn”,                       “convenient scapegoats for everything that
thus, the novel is exploring old stories in                    goes wrong in people’s lives” (Mpe, 2011, p.

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Xenophobic Violence in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

118). As such, foreigners are considered as               and xenophobia. Refentse proved Fanon’s
the weaker faction in the society, in addition            prophesies and offered many examples of
to the accusations of being invaders and                  migrants’ experiences with xenophobia,
competitors, this makes them the logical                  the legacies and the continuity of apartheid
target to channel all the frustrations and                (colonialism) rule which indicated that
disappointments of citizens.                              South Africa’s liberation and decolonization
     Thus, the state’s incapability to improve            were not totalitarian.
its overall economy is not merely due to                       Thus, the struggle to attain this state
a deficiency of incomes or the burdens of                 of affairs- of bridging the gap between the
cosmopolitan investment. It is also because               new and the old - is further stressed when
of the economic and political preferences                 apartheid continues to rear its ugly head
that the nationalist political elites have                to further divide and racially segregate
defined and taken during the period of                    the masses. This calls to mind Lindsay
transition whereby they turned their backs                Bremner’s disturbing declaration that
on mass democratic participation which                    “Apartheid is not over, it has simply been
steered the public to direct their irritation             deferred” (2010, p. 171). Instances of
and objection in the wrong direction (Fanon,              apartheid and legacies of colonial systems
1968, p. 52). South Africa should not                     were seen through, the lens of Refentse and
then be seen as an extraordinary case,                    Cousin, both of whom validated the claims
but only as part of colonialism›s lasting                 of Bremner that apartheid was deferred but
legacy (Ahluwalia, 1996). In other words,                 not dismantled. Specifically under such
decolonization is incomplete, and this has                authoritarian rule, citizens cannot oppose
led people to frustrate over the unchanging               government and authorities so they blame
state of poverty and unemployment. Under                  foreigners for all the social ills, moral
these circumstances, it would appear that                 decay and economic crises in the country,
the only recourse they have is to blame their             all of which are conducive to the growth of
misfortunes on these foreigners.                          xenophobia.
     As demonstrated in the text, South                        Cousin, the antagonist, uncovered an
Africa has had a cultural heritage of violent             important revelation about the legislative
actions that are rooted in inequality and                 innovation post-apartheid that was supposed
colonial segregation and its impact on                    to be driven by a new multiracial debate
people in post-colonialism (Saayman,                      which would combat the discriminatory
2016), and its continuous presence in the                 system of the apartheid regime. This
post-apartheid period. Similarly, Fanon                   forthcoming debate was projected to alter
(1968) warned against such circumstances                  the South African state into a democratic,
and insisted that decolonization has to be                welcoming and receptive state known as
totalitarian and incomplete liberation may                “rainbow nation”. However, there is a
lead to fragmentation, chauvinism, racism                 noticeable miscarriage in undertaking this

                            Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (1): 457 - 470 (2021)                 463
Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh, Omar Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Fleih Hasan

political schema which has led several                        authority and status. Cousin blames
intellectuals in post-apartheid to stigmatize                 foreigners for taking jobs from citizens and
and falsify the ‘democratic rainbowism’ as a                  that they are “responsible; not just for the
deceitful objectivity from the tangible reality               physical decay of the place, but the moral
of violence, intolerance, and xenophobia in                   decay” (Mpe, 2001, p. 17). Thus, internal
the South African society (Mari, 2012).                       refugees are destined to co-exist and fight
     Thus, post-apartheid, people’s                           for survival with inter-African migrants in
expectations of the rainbow nation may                        the marginal areas of cities. Thus, the sole
have given rise to hope and a promise of                      emphasis on xenophobia alone, may also
better things to come yet, there is also an                   obscure the fact that internal migrations and
awareness that the democratic machinery set                   xenophobic consequences are mainly due
up to achieve equality for all and alleviate                  to the failure of the post-apartheid political
poverty will not achieve its purpose; this                    agenda in the redistribution of wealth and,
then fuels further dissatisfaction and                        above all, land (Mari, 2012), an indication
resentment. Obviously, individuals are more                   of Fanon’s neo-colonialism and the pitfalls
mindful of their deficiency than ever before.                 of the incomplete liberation.
So, with much indignation and resentment,                          Refentse exposed the fact that South
and foreigners pouring into the country, it                   African citizens accused the foreigners in
is an ideal environment for a plague like                     the country of corrupting their community
xenophobia to take root and flourish, and                     with social ills like AIDS which was already
as Fanon suggested, “citizens are incapable                   so prevalent within the country. In addition,
to direct their anger and frustration towards                 the foreigners are blamed for a universal
the real sources of these disappointments”                    ethical deterioration linked to the prompt
(1968, p. 15). Thus, for Fanon, this is the                   expansion of the country in the post-
reality of the neo-colonial city and the                      apartheid period. Within this xenophobic
demonstration of the failure to achieve                       discourse, and similar to apartheid times,
complete liberation and decolonization.                       foreigners are considered as voiceless
     Through the narrative Refentse reveals                   bodies, accessible only for sex and cheap
that political alteration to democracy in                     labour. According to natives, foreigners
South Africa has exposed the uneven                           contaminate others with AIDS, while their
delivery of incomes and capital in the state                  indigenous languages, cultural customs, and
and particularly in Hillbrow. Of particular                   historic background cannot be transmissible
notice is the practice by which foreigners                    (Davis, 2013). Such practices and attitudes
coming from elsewhere in the greater                          by natives towards foreigners mark the
continent are otherized and marginalized                      advent of the neo-apartheid city, which
as portrayed by Cousin. Those foreigners                      in Fanon’s words, is not unlike apartheid
are perceived as threats to civilians’ very                   towards all the black Africans at that time.
existence, and also deemed to challenge                       Thus, the processes of exploitation and

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Xenophobic Violence in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

otherizing enacted in the creating of such                and neo-apartheid that Fanon had warned
wretched individuals may be perceived as                  newly liberated states from becoming, if
establishing an insensible expression of                  they did not achieve full and complete
discrimination and xenophobia that remains                decolonization.
still in post-apartheid indicating a new phase                 Xenophobia has political and
of neo-apartheid (Fryer, 2014). Apparently,               psychological roots in South African
along with Fanon, South Africans even                     society. Due to such disappointments
after the supposed democracy, still follow                and indignations, natives, on the contrary
and sustains the approach of colonialism                  feel that their lives under apartheid were
and apartheid which is reflected in the                   better than their presence in terms of job
continuation of oppression and humiliation                opportunities and resources. Along with
against foreigners in the community.                      Fanon’s projections, the only change was
                                                          with the ‘elite’, the black agents who are
DISCUSSION: NEO-COLONIAL                                  supporting the hegemony of white rule.
AND NEO-APARTHEID CITY                                    However, the black masses were becoming
                                                          increasingly disillusioned by the abject
Refentše’s journey to Hillbrow from
                                                          poverty they were living in. With every
Tiragalong represents a journey from the
                                                          kind of misery Refentše observed in the
past to the present, from old apartheid to
                                                          present, the stronger his sense of longing
new post-apartheid. Refentse confesses
                                                          for Tiragalong, for the past. This then is an
his longing to go back to his previous
                                                          indication of the failure of the transition and
life in Tiragalong. Hillbrow represents
                                                          the incomplete process of decolonization
the present, the post-apartheid age, not
                                                          expressed by Fanon.
a present that the South Africans had
                                                               According to Fanon, emancipation
dreamed of and were promised by the new
                                                          continues unfinished when the apartheid or
democratic state officials. Thus, having
                                                          colonial state is not restructured but merely
been privy to atrocities committed against
                                                          taken over. So, Mamdani agreed with Fanon,
humanity and the failure of the powers that
                                                          that in order to attain full emancipation, it
be to transform the state, there is a state
                                                          was crucial to reconstruct the state from
of yearning for the way things were in the
                                                          the remnants of colonialism and apartheid.
past. The narrator addressing Refentse to
                                                          Hence, in his comments on South Africa,
this: “with your memory constantly jogging
                                                          Mamdani emphasised that “the colonial
back to Tiragalong with such nostalgia that
                                                          state was deracialised but not democratised”
one would have thought you had not been
                                                          (Mamdani, 1996, p. 20). It is true that South
there for at least a year” (Mpe, 2001, p. 9).
                                                          Africa was politically decolonized and the
Citizens feel that nothing has really changed
                                                          black majority rules the country, yet socially,
in their lives; no wealth distribution, no
                                                          culturally and psychologically, the legacies,
land and no secured country. Thus, South
                                                          imprints and scars of apartheid still exist in
Africa lives a state of neo-colonialism
                                                          the neo-apartheid city.

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Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh, Omar Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Fleih Hasan

    Observably, Mpe is constructing a                          for xenophobic violence. Refentse added,
clear assessment of the apartheid and post-                    “black police officers contorting bribes from
apartheid regimes and their management                         fellow blacks accused of political and other
of the state and its citizens. Along with                      dissents. Black police and security forces
Fanon, Mpe also emphasises that the                            hitting fellow blacks mercilessly for crimes
decolonization process in South Africa is                      that were often not committed” (Mpe, 2001,
unsuccessful because nothing really changes                    p. 19). In this sense, apartheid dealt with
after the transition. Mpe recalled some                        black people in the same way that post-
grim memories of what black people and                         apartheid is treating foreigners in the present
foreigners experienced under apartheid and                     time. Thus, Refentse could deconstruct the
post-apartheid rule:                                           post-apartheid new spatiality and refuted the
      Many writers, politicians, social                        so-called “democratic rainbowism” which
      workers and lecturers and the endless                    had turned to a hegemonic discourse in post-
      string of South Africans hanging and                     apartheid (Mari, 2012).
      jumping from their ninth floor prison                         Thus, living in Hillbrow, Refentse could
      cells because the agents of Apartheid                    uncover the hidden realities in South Africa
      government wanted them to do so                          in reference to the unchanged conditions
      (2001, p. 19).                                           in the post-apartheid period. Along with
                                                               Fanon, Ahluwalia insisted that the “system
    Consequently, Refentse through his
                                                               of direct rule or apartheid may well have
various observations of life in Hillbrow,
                                                               been dismantled, indirect rule continues to
concluded that there was no big change
                                                               shape its future” (1996, p. 100). Refentse
in South Africa, “black agents of the
                                                               exposed, through Cousin, the methods
Apartheid State, playing their various roles
                                                               of extracting information from suspects
with a mastery that confounded the minds
                                                               revealing that Cousin was “part of the
of even the State itself” (Mpe, 2001, p.
                                                               interrogating police force that knew only
19). Black agents of apartheid ensure the
                                                               one reliable way of accessing the truth from
continuation of apartheid yet this time
                                                               suspects: torture” (Mpe, 2001, p. 19). Such
around, it is practised and enacted by black
                                                               methods of investigation and interrogation
people themselves, which results in the
                                                               were practised by the apartheid regime
neo-colonial and the neo-apartheid state
                                                               before 1994, revealing the huge similarity
described by Fanon. Along with Fanon’s
                                                               between the two regimes; the only thing that
conceptualization about the failed process of
                                                               changed was the skin colour of the rulers.
decolonization, the system in post-apartheid
                                                                    Fanon asserted that “liberation is the
did not change, and there is no complete
                                                               total destruction of the colonial system”
liberation as the government and the police,
                                                               (1968, p. 105) yet, South Africa was not
along with others like Cousin are still
                                                               completely liberated and the process of
practising apartheid towards people in South
                                                               decolonization was not successful since
Africa, hence breeding a fertile ground

466                                Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (1): 457 - 470 (2021)
Xenophobic Violence in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

the state of post-apartheid reproduced the                during apartheid, which indicates that the
systems and the actions of their ancestors.               colonial mentality still exists in people in
Consequently, South Africans do not                       the post-apartheid period. Necklacing was
experience complete emancipation from                     done to people who were suspected to be
apartheid laws and regulations concerning                 informants to the apartheid regime. This act
the economy; they still live in squalid                   demonstrates that the violence committed
poverty, without any land distribution and/               by citizens after 1994 is somewhat due to
or jobs. As such, being powerless to oppose               the unchanged reality of colonial culture
the government because of authoritarian                   and traditions. Unquestionably, Mpe
rule, they direct their anger towards the                 emphasized how apartheid patterns still
most vulnerable faction in society, namely                assembled the cultural background and
the refugees and migrants.                                thought of post-apartheid (Ogden, 2013),
     Refentse made another reference to                   because, as Birmingham put it; “Africans
the unsuccessful decolonization in the                    continued to work on colonial assumptions,
state which was demonstrated by the fact                  making cultural, emotional and intellectual
that white people were still superior to the              decolonization difficult for the heirs of
blacks. They live in gated communities                    empire” (1995, p. 7). For that reason, Fanon
with security forces protecting them from                 emphasised that the need to decolonize
‘black’ criminals. Working in a kitchen                   the mind was important, a mission he
of a white family is still a privilege for a              anticipated to be much harder than just
black individual, which was the case during               eliminating the colonizer.
apartheid. The process of poverty and                          Thus, Mpe highlights that the language
frustration continues among black people,                 of study and writing fiction in South Africa
they are still inferior to the whites and even            should be English, which is the colonizers’
their psychological transition after 1994                 language, or it will not be appreciated or
did not benefit them much. White suburbs                  published. South Africa has twelve formal
are considered as low crime zones unlike                  languages but if a writer wants to publish his
black zones, where according to Refentse,                 story he has to write it in English, which is a
“police bothered you less often in the                    surviving remnant of the colonizers’ culture.
suburbs, because those were not regarded                  The novel also reveals the unchanged
as high crime zones” (Mpe, 2001, p. 22)                   condition of South Africa in the post-
which indicates the unchanged reality that                apartheid, Mpe narrated:
the white and black people are still living                     She did not know that writing in an
the same life with the same privileges due                      African language in South Africa could
to the incomplete decolonization.                               be such a curse… The woman of your
     Necklacing was one of the most popular                     fiction, Refentse, was writing in 1995,
and violent methods for death punishment                        one year after the much acclaimed 1994

                            Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (1): 457 - 470 (2021)                    467
Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh, Omar Mohammed Abdullah and Mohammed Fleih Hasan

      democratic elections; one year after                     hand” (1968, p.52). Fanon added that “this
      the overthrow of the political and the                   incomplete decolonization marks post-
      cultural censorship, and the damaging                    apartheid society and reverses the liberation
      and the dishonest system (Mpe, 2001,                     project to mark neo-apartheid and violence
      pp. 56-57).                                              instead of creating a new history” (1968, p.
     Thus, even one year after the acclaimed                   52). Thus, similar to Fanon, Mpe offered
elections and the overthrow of the colonial                    a panoramic picture of the neo-apartheid
regime, the state is still following and                       society in his text.
enacting the procedures and rules of the                            A factor common to the neo-apartheid
previous state’s politics. That there was no                   state and the continuous impact of apartheid
full decolonization of the state is evidenced                  is the prevalence of violence. Much of the
by the continuous authority and use of the                     xenophobic violence that is detailed in the
colonizer’s language. Though South Africa                      text is committed by black natives. Sexual
has twelve formal languages, English                           exploitation of black foreign women is
is as yet, the formal medium in writing.                       executed by the native black policemen,
Mpe reveals that “in 1995, despite the                         “some of the womenfolk bought their
so-called new dispensation, nothing had                        temporary freedom to roam in Hillbrow
really changed. The legacy of Apartheid                        streets by dispensing under-waist bliss”
censors still shackle those who dreamed                        (Mpe, 2001, p. 21). These nefarious actions
of writing freely in an African language”                      by the police are contradictory to the
(Mpe, 2001, p. 57). Fanon had forewarned                       principles of police jurisdiction enshrined
that “true liberation is not that pseudo-                      in the new Constitution. This brings us to
independence… liberation is the total                          the observation of Ndebele that “Power and
destruction of the colonial system, from                       wealth became the dominant determinants
the pre-eminence of the language of the                        of behaviour: two key ingredients in the
oppressor and departmentalization” (1968,                      recipe of socially embedded corruption”
p. 105).                                                       (1998, p. 24).
     Consequently, South Africans feel                              Finally, a Fanonian view insists that we
that nothing has really changed, and being                     view the sweetness of the South African
unable to direct their anger towards the                       transition from apartheid as bitter and
sources of corruption in the state, they vent                  incomplete, realised at the moment when
their anger and frustration on the foreigners                  “the people find out the ubiquitous fact
since the latter are the most vulnerable part                  that exploitation can wear a Black face”
of the community. Thus, according to Fanon,                    (Fanon, 1968, p. 145) and the apartheid
since citizens are unable to “attack the                       rule was replaced by a neo-apartheid one. In
source of oppression, the government and                       reference to the exploitation and xenophobia
the employers, foreigners became victims                       practised by black South Africans on
of this struggle because they were close at                    black Africans, it has become a process of

468                                Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 29 (1): 457 - 470 (2021)
Xenophobic Violence in Welcome to Our Hillbrow

exchanging roles from the old oppressed to              ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
the new oppressors. This failure to achieve             I, represents the first and the correspondent
complete decolonization has resulted in                 author (Mustafa Mohammed Abdullah)
the formation of both national and racial               would like to show my sincere gratitude
xenophobia and a new bourgeois class of the             and appreciation to the co-authors for
Blacks. In this situation, South Africa has             the continuous support and help during
become a neo-apartheid and neo-colonial                 writing the manuscript of this article,
city and blacks will have to fight again to             my appreciation goes to my supervisor,
get democracy but this time the colonizers,             Dr. Hardev Kaur for her guidance and
according to them, are black Africans.                  continuous support. I would not forget
                                                        the Library of UPM for the resourceful
CONCLUSION                                              information I received from the staff.

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