Xenophobia, Criminality and Violent Entrepreneurship: Violence against Somali Shopkeepers in Delft South, Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Violence against Somali shopkeepers is often cited as evidence of xenophobic attitudes and violence
\nin South Africa. However, as argued in this article, it is not necessarily the case that such violence
\nis driven by anti-foreigner sentiment. Instead, as illustrated in the case of Delft, a poor, mixed-race
\narea in the City of Cape Town, violence against spaza shopkeepers may also be explained in
\nterms of criminal activities and economic competition in the form of ‘violent entrepreneurship’. This
\nargument is made drawing on a survey of over 100 spaza shopkeepers, a household survey, police
\nstatistics, and interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders living in Delft. The key insight is
\nthat despite a recent history of intense economic competition in the spaza market in which foreign
\nskopkeepers have come to dominate, levels of violent crime against foreign shopkeepers, 80 per
\ncent of whom are Somali, are not significantly higher than against South African shopkeepers.
\nIn addition, while South African shopkeepers openly resent the Somali advent, most consumers
\nremain indifferent to their presence and certainly prefer the lower prices. While our findings cannot
\nbe generalised beyond this case, they do alert us to the importance of locating arguments about
\nxenophobia in the wider context of crime and violence in South Africa, as well as paying close
\nattention to the local particularities that can turn general sentiment into xenophobic action.