Abstract
Despite the transition from a very authoritarian regime to a young democracy, post- Apartheid South Africa has not yet managed to get rid of the racist burden that undermines South African political life. Racism is still deeply entrenched within the South African mentality and constitutes a real obstacle in the democratic transition undertaken by the country. More alarmingly, racism seems to have derived into a new form from 1994 onward: xenophobia. Very paradoxically, xenophobia mainly affects Black African foreigners which these same sacrosanct peoples that the African Renaissance project flatters. Insofar indifferent or even unconcerned by this particular problem and despite our previous claims over this subject, the South African government and especially the Department of Home affairs must realize that even if xenophobia is a worldwide plague, South Africa is nevertheless regarded as the most xenophobic country in the world along with Russia. The consequences of this unfortunate status could damage the credibility, the influence or even the image of South Africa- as it presently handicaps Russia-, the Department of Home Affairs must now develop real public policies to stop this shameful trend. The SAHRC proposes three different solutions to sort out this problem: (1) No action: Xenophobia is nothing but a consequence of the nation building process. Therefore fighting against xenophobia is at the same time fighting against the nation-building process. (2) Launch a national scale campaign to promote foreign cultures in order to weaken misperceptions that South Africans have towards foreigners. (3) Encourage common policies over immigration within the regional organisations South Africa belongs to (SADC, SACU, AU).
