Somali Spaza Shop Operators in the Villages Around Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, South Africa
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My Friend, the Stranger: Somali Spaza Shop Operators in the Villages around Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, South Africa A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology, Rhodes University, South Africa Avuyile Maselwa Supervisor: Professor Lucien van der Walt Department of Sociology February 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................... 5 Abstract............................................................................................................................................ 6 Chapter One: Background, Aims and Methodology 1.1 Introduction and Background: Insiders and Outsiders............................................................8 1.2 Somali Traders: Violence and the Ethnic Economy.............................................................. 14 1.3 Aims, Objectives and Research Question...............................................................................19 1.4 Research Methodology............................................................................................................ 24 1.5 Ethical Considerations............................................................................................................. 28 Chapter Two: Literature Review and Context 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................30 2.2 The “Middleman Minority” Theory........................................................................................ 31 2.3 Somali Migration to South Africa............................................................................................36 2.4 The South African Spaza Landscape....................................................................................... 40 2.5 The Villages around Cofimvaba...............................................................................................47 2.6 Xenophobia in South Africa..................................................................................................... 49 2.7 Synthesis.....................................................................................................................................52 2 Chapter Three: Attitudes and Views 3.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 53 3.2 Safety in the Villages around Cofimvaba as the Main Attraction for Somalis................ 53 3.3 Varying Attitudes to Somalis in the Villages...................................................................... 59 3.4 Race and Nation: Who are the “Somalis” in the Villages around Cofimvaba?.............. 61 3.5 Good Business: Xenophilia and Somalis Spaza Business Practices.................................. 65 3.6 Grudging Appreciation: Ambiguity as a Response to Somalis.......................................... 67 3.7 Hygiene as an Issue of Contention....................................................................................... 69 3.8 Ties between Somalis in the Villages, and to the Ethnic Enclave in Queenstown........... ' 71 3.9 Social Distance in the Villages.............................................................................................. 73 3.10 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 78 Chapter Four: Interactions and Explanations 4.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 80 4.2 The Dispersed Settlement of Somali Traders........................................................................ 80 4.3 The Limits of Relative Deprivation....................................................................................... 81 4.4 Filling Gaps: The Importance of a Lack of Conflict of Interests with Locals................... 82 4.5 My Friend, the Stranger: Somali Spaza Operators and Young Men in the Villages........ 92 4.6 Conclusion 96 Chapter Five: Discussion and Concluding Remarks 5.1 Discussion and concluding remarks..........................................................................................97 5.2 Recommendations for Future Research....................................................................................102 References.........................................................................................................................................103 Appendices: Appendix A: Semi-Structured Interview for the Somali Spaza Operators................................. 113 Appendix B: Semi-Structured Interview for the South African Spaza Operators......................115 Appendix C: Semi-Structured Interview for the Villagers...........................................................116 Figures: Location of Chris Hani District Municipality in South Africa..................................................... 22 Map of the Eastern Cape with Intsika Yethu Municipal Area Highlighted................................ 23 Map of the Research Site: Villages around Cofimvaba................................................................. 26 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank the participants in this research, the villagers of the Cofimvaba area, and the Somali spaza operators in the area, for giving me their time and sharing their stories and experiences. Thank you. Thank you to my supervisor, Professor Lucien van der Walt, for your advice, guidance and encouragement. You made it impossible for me to give up on this research, and I would never have completed this journey without your unwavering support. Thank you to my parents for the sacrifices you have made for my academic career. I would never have reached this level of study without the sacrifices you have made. Lastly, thank you to my friends, especially Xoliswa Dilata, for supporting me from the day I started this research. 5 ABSTRACT This thesis presents a study of the relationships between Somali spaza operators and the villagers living in the villages around Cofimvaba. The Somali spaza operators are operating spazas in the villages around Cofimvaba in the Intsika Yethu District Municipality (IYDM) located in the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM). Spaza shops are general dealers selling daily consumption items, which usually operate in the informal sector, primarily in poorer black neighbourhoods, both urban and rural. Resentment of the very visible, post-apartheid, expansion of immigrant entrepreneurship - in the informal sector, notably in spazas- has been central to South African anti-immigrant sentiment, popularly dubbed “xenophobia,” which casts foreigners, mainly black or Asian, as stealing South African resources. Foreign spaza operators, many of them Somalis, have been subject to ongoing violence and looting for well over a decade, notably in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces. Yet in the deeply impoverished villages around Cofimvaba, in the former Transkei black homeland in the Eastern Cape, where Somalis play a central and growing role in spazas, such attacks are unknown. The aim of this thesis is to understand why. Careful qualitative research in several villages has indicated key reasons. These include the relative absence of South African, locally- owned spazas, and so, the lack of a local group driving xenophobic resentment; the convenience offered by Somali-owned spazas in these isolated villages, the affordability of the products offered, and the availability of systems of credit for villagers; the investment of the Somali entrepreneurs into the villages through acts like charity; and their social interaction with villagers. The Somalis have redefined the local spaza sector, to the benefit of the villagers, and there is a degree of “xenophilia” as a result. The research also found that the growing number of Somali spaza operators in the villages was a direct result of the xenophobia experienced by this group in the urban townships. The villages around Cofimvaba benefit the Somali operator, not in a financial sense as these are not where the most profits have been made, but as sites where the traders feel safest. But although the villages are a sort of refuge, they are isolated and isolating. The Somalis resident in these areas struggle to maintain the strong ethnic group consciousness based on a strong vision of the Somali homeland, and a sense of being sojourners, hoping to relocate elsewhere. 6 7 CHAPTER ONE: Background, Aims and Methodology 1.1 Introduction and Background: Insiders and Outsiders Under the apartheid state, the ruling National Party (NP), sought to maintain its rule by institutionalising racial and ethnic differences. Economic, political and social distinctions between black and white South Africans were overlain by divides constructed between urban and rural areas, township and migrant labour, ethnically-defined homelands and institutions, and distinctions between black Africans, Asians and Coloureds. Apartheid state rule was a continuation of the colonial state form, where white South Africans were citizens, and black Africans subjects, effectively “native-born foreigners” (Mamdani, 1996; Neocosmos, 2010). The homeland system, in which unelected African chiefs and “customary” law was central, and the segregated black areas in “white” South Africa, co-existed with the trappings of a liberal democracy for whites.