Xenophobia in Niq Mhlongo’s Dog Eat Dog and Kopano Matlwa’s Period Pain

Xenophobia has been thematized in South African literature by post-apartheid novelists, and they addressed it in different manners. Two post-apartheid authors who dealt with the issue of xenophobia are Niq Mhlongo and Kopano Matlwa in their novels Dog Eat Dog and Period Pain, respectively. This paper aims to examine how Mhlongo and Matlwa portray xenophobia in their novels and explore the ways they employ to neutralize xenophobia. The paper also discusses the causes of xenophobia pointed out in the novels. Therefore, a critical analysis of the novels has been made by the writer using detailed reading and textual evidence. The analysis indicates that South Africans view black foreigners as job stealers, criminals, drug dealers, witches, and bringers of disease. The writers infused the view of black foreign characters on xenophobia to debunk the negative stereotype and attempted to neutralize it by featuring non-xenophobic protagonists. The article also concludes that Mhlongo and Matlwa reveal the role of the media and the scapegoating hypothesis as the causes of xenophobia.


INTRODUCTION
After languishing in the racially discriminatory apartheid system for nearly half a century, South Africa transitioned to a non-racial democratic nation in 1994 with the vision to realize the "Rainbow Nation" where whites, blacks, coloreds, and Indians can live in harmony. Following the democratic election, the African National Congress (ANC)-led government promised a better life for all South Africans and a unified nation under the principles of equality, liberty, and justice.
It appears, however, that the project of creating a new nation failed, with economic, social, and political inequalities still wide among the different groups of people that make up the nation. The ANC has been in power for nearly three decades now. Still, many of the promises have not yet been met, and it has received harsh criticism for the poverty, inequality, violence, health crises, and corruption that have persisted. Racial discrimination is still deeply embedded in the country, and cities are still segregated after thirty years since the end of apartheid.
It is also the most hostile nation for black non-South Africans, as xenophobia and xenophobic attacks are always on the rise. According to Claassen (2017: 1), "South Africa is now clearly one of most hostile destinations in the world for African migrants." Crush (2008:1) (Elzinga, 2022: 5).
Studies attribute xenophobic sentiments and violence to different factors. One of the reasons that many see it as the main drive is the socioeconomic factor or the struggle for resources (Ejoke and Ani, 2017). Writing on the causes of xenophobia, Dumani (2015:1) asserts, "Recurrent themes are those that portray foreigners as an economic threat, taking jobs opportunities and social services meant for the locals." In support of this, Choane et al. (2011:135) note that "The most obvious motives advanced for the socioeconomic causes of xenophobia are unemployment, poverty and inadequate or lack of service delivery which are mostly politically attributed." This cause is what scholars term a scapegoating hypothesis that explains that South African citizens blame foreigners for their hardships and social ills (Dumani, 2015;Harris, 2002). The socioeconomic problems are considered to be because of inefficient leadership. Quoted in Choane et al. (2011:136), the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) outlined that "the hostilities are the expression of citizens' frustration over the slow pace of service delivery, consultation, housing provision and administration in particular, as well as the corruption and insolence of government officials, especially in the Police Service and in the Department of Home Affairs." This is where the politics comes in as a cause of xenophobia.
There is an argument that the government and politicians are part of the problem. "Other political causes of xenophobia include structural or institutional discrimination, the laxity of the Department of Home Affairs to grant asylum seekers refugee status, the illegal presentation of immigrants, and South Africa's border problems" (ibid). Xenophobic politicians and police officials are also accused of their involvement in clamouring for ethnic purity in the republic, causing nationalistic self-image to run into crisis and favoring their citizens in their opinions of incidents of ethnic clashes that, in turn, serve as a cause for xenophobia (Olofinbiyi, 2022).
The apartheid and apartheid-era violence are also considered the cause of xenophobia due to the "inability of black South Africans to shake off the psychology of the dehumanizing torture they underwent during the apartheid regime" (Ikpor). Kaziboni (2022: 209) also claims that "South Africa's apartheid and racist history laid a fertile ground in which the use of violence was born." Some researchers also believe that the media has played a role in fueling and spreading hate and xenophobic violence. The media portrays foreign nationals in derogatory terms, and they are criticized for "cover[ing] reports on some nationalities using the generalised stereotypes...
Xenophobia has been thematized in South African literature by post-apartheid novelists, and they addressed it in different manners. In this article, xenophobia refers to negative prejudice and  Winstanley (2018) highlights that the novel reflects both the rise of new nationalism and the re-emergence of old nationalism and deconstructs the reasons for the rise of xenophobia featured in Period Pain by using Tabish Khair's "The New Xenophobia". She emphasizes the economic reasons by sidelining the hatred of black foreigners by the South African characters in the novel. In this article, the negative sentiment will also be explored. While we understand the possible factors for the rise of xenophobia, we must acknowledge the hatred that has developed. Ngom (2019) stressed that xenophobia, among others, has contributed to debunk the myth of South Africa as a Rainbow Nation and underlines that it is the legacy of apartheid. This paper aims to examine how Matlwa depicts xenophobia in Period Pain compared to Mhlongo's Dog Eat Dog and explore how they neutralize xenophobia. The paper also discusses the causes of xenophobia pointed out in the novels. tells God about everything, compellingly deals with serious national issues that matter most in post-apartheid South Africa. It is divided into four parts that follow the major events in the life of Masechaba, starting from her teenage years. The four parts are punctuated with verses from the Bible that serve as an introduction to what will happen in her story in a particular part. The tale of Masechaba is meant to symbolize the situation of South Africa that is hinted at in the novel in a conversation she has with her friend, Nyasha, describing the widespread xenophobic hate in South Africa. When Nyasha comments that "It's just a period South Africa's in…Growing pains" (65), Masechaba replies, "Like period pain" (65) to which Nyasha repeats her words, "Yeah…Like period pain" (65). Masechaba's pain, suffering, and agony are presented parallel to the situation of post-apartheid South Africa: xenophobia, racism, poverty, and crime/violence. In the face of all these overwhelming realities, Kopano Matlwa holds an optimistic view of the making of "a rainbow nation" by crafting a happy ending for the story that leaves the reader with hope and faith.

XENOPHOBIA IN DOG EAT DOG
The title Dog Eat Dog is a powerfully evocative term that helps to bring images of what life looked like in the post-apartheid era. While it expressively telltales the relationship between the whites who lost the power and the blacks who hold power now, the new and the old generations, the elite, and the masses, it also brings to light the underlined tension between locals and the African immigrants as demonstrated through the story and its characters.
Mhlongo's portrayal of xenophobia in Dog Eat Dog is twofold. First, he shows how South Africans think of black non-South Africans. In chapter sixteen, Dingz was drinking in a bar with four of his friends, and they saw an Ethiopian and a Zimbabwean students (Mohammed and Tawanda, respectively) approaching them. Theks describes them as "two Kiwi-black Shangaans," and Themba says, "They are not even black. They're navy blue," which implies the stereotype black South Africans hold of their fellow Africans. Mohammed is not obviously a Shangaan, a tribe from Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and Tawanda is not a Shangaan but a Shona. The stereotype here is that they see all Africans as Shangaans regardless of their country. When Dingz explains to Theks that Tawanda is not a Shangaan, but a Shona, she snaps, "Ha! What's the difference? ...They all eat mopane worms and locusts, and he is black like Kiwi polish. Besides, they all jabber in the same dialect" (129). In reply to what she remarked, Dingz further clarifies, "Does the word Shangaan nowadays mean every person with a dark complexion and speaks a language foreign to your stupid ears? For your information, the Shangaan language is one of the eleven official languages in South Africa, it is also an official language in Mozambique, and although there are some Shangaan people in Zimbabwe, [Tawanda] is definitely not one of them" It is also interesting to know how black South Africans view dark complexion. When Babes speaks, "Black is beautiful, don't you know that by now," Themba exclaims mockingly, "There is nothing beautiful about that black," referring to Mohammed and Tawanda. All black is not beautiful, according to him.
The second way Mhlongo treats the issue of xenophobia is by bringing it into a debate between multinational students to reflect the diversified views attached to it by black South Africans themselves and black non-South Africans from other African countries. In the closing chapter, all the friends of the protagonist − Themba, Tawanda, Mohammed, Dworkin, Dunga, Theks, Babes, and his girlfriend, Nkanyezi − meet at a usual bar to celebrate their achievement of passing to the next academic year. This is where the hot debate is being held, as sparked by Dworkin, who says: The intake of black students in this [university] is really questionable. I'm not xenophobic here…but just look at the majority of black students in this [university] and tell me if they are South Africans?... I'm telling you that the majority of black students come here from outside this Mzantsi Africa. They are used as window dressing to fool the South African public, so that when they look, they think that the [university] is adhering to the affirmative action programme (219-20).
The characters take different sides in this debate. Dingz and Babes take a positive side on the grounds that the non-South Africans are admitted because they pay for their studies. Dingz says, "Students from foreign soil are seen as reliable customers because they pay hard cash towards their academic fees…But we are bad news for the [university] because we end up owing money to it at the end of each academic year…" (220) and, in approval of his views, Babes adds, "Absolutely, you are right. These guys from outside South Africa are sponsored by their governments while studying here. That is why their studies go so smoothly" (220). Dingz and Babes look at the issue from the financial point of view and hold a good view of the non-South African students.
Dworkin and Theks, on the other hand, take a negative side and view them as sources of unemployment. Dworkin says, "Indeed, how many black lecturers or professors do we have here in this [university]?... And how many of those, if any, are South Africans? The institution itself is afraid that if it increases the intake of black students and academics, it will be accused of compromising its academic standards and might lose out financially." (221) Theks agrees with his opinion saying, "I think you're right…I think of all the black lecturers in the law faculty only two or three are South Africans. The rest are from outside" (221). Black non-South Africans, especially Nigerians, are also considered sources of drug dealing and crime. Theks speaks, "Look at the Nigerians who are selling drugs to small kids on the streets," and Babes, who speaks against herself, says, "…but we can't afford to harbor the worst criminals in the name of an Africa Renaissance, these people are just holding our country at ransom" (221). African countries contributed to their political freedom during the apartheid by remarking, "You guys must stop your racist remarks. Do you see how black foreigners are treated in your country?
You guys forget very easily how you were supported and given asylum when fighting for democracy. Now you fail to return that favor" (221). And in response to the xenophobic rhetoric concerning Nigerians, Tawanda reflects, "Are you sure that the Nigerians are the ones who are doing such things, or it is just an allegation by your xenophobic media? You guys here in South Africa must not only concentrate on the negative aspects about foreigners" (221).
By bringing the issue of xenophobia to the center of the debate, Mhlongo foregrounds the different views from the perspective of South African and foreign characters and points out that there are equally positive and negative aspects of foreigners in South Africa.

XENOPHOBIA IN PERIOD PAIN
For Kopano Matlwa, xenophobia is a sickness that plagues the post-apartheid South African society, and it is metaphorically symbolized by the biblical woman who suffered from heavy menstrual bleeding for years and got healed after she met Jesus Christ and by the protagonist, Masechaba, who has the same medical issue during her teenage. Matlwa describes it as "Like period pain." (65), characterizing xenophobia as a sickness of biblical proportions. By featuring the abject (menstrual blood), which symbolizes xenophobia in the story, she disgusts the reader so that they reject xenophobic sentiments as something that is contaminating and delaying the realization of the rainbow nation that Nelson Mandela envisioned. Menstrual blood is one of the motifs in Julia Kristeva's list of abject, including defilement, waste, and milk (Kristeva, 1982).

For Matlwa, xenophobia in South Africa calls for divine intervention as it happened to the biblical
woman. This is more forcefully foregrounded through the life of Masechaba, which turned from "darkness" to perfection after she miraculously gave birth to a baby girl from rape despite the endometrial ablation she had during her teenage years.
Not only does Masechaba abhor xenophobia, but she also speaks out against it and takes actions to bring change after she convinces herself by saying, "I've resolved that I must do something to stop this. Or at least try." (80). This came after xenophobic violence that hit the streets of the town and "…has spread like wildfire," leaving the streets on fire, and many foreigners burnt, stoned to death, or fled their homes. It came as a shock to her, and she comments, "How could we be so savage, so cruel, so inhumane? What kind of people are we?" (73). Then she personally organized a petition campaign and collected many signatures and thousands of Facebook shares and likes that brought her to the spotlight and attracted the attention of local and international media for her. But, to her disappointment, the people around her discourage her from taking what she has started to the next level, some out of fear for her safety, some because they are xenophobic, and some out of despair that change is impossible. Some feared angry xenophobic men assaulted and gang raped her in vengeance for her anti-xenophobia actions, and her plans could not go any further.
Apart from divine intervention, Matlwa conveys a strong message that this can change through human action no matter how difficult it seems by demonstrating the horrors of xenophobia and by portraying a critical and ardent young anti-xenophobia character. The perseverance and resilience Masechaba exhibit to lift herself from the short-lived mental and emotional agony and her giving birth from the rape are the means Matlwa shows that a sacrifice must be made. She provides hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She also shares her optimism through the words of Masechaba when she says, "We all know this xenophobia thing will blow over. It won't last. Yes, from time to time there's an incident here and there, but it's definitely on the decline. Things are getting better." (153) One of the ways Matlwa reveals the evils of xenophobia is by describing the horrors of xenophobic attacks and the human and material losses it causes. Masechaba recounts that a group of 20 South African men burned a street of shops owned by the community of Somali nationals and reports, "…three young Somalian girls were stoned to death, and many families had to flee their homes." (73). The violence spreads very quickly and becomes out of control. She continues to describe the nightmarish savage event as follows: Throughout the day the TV has been ablaze with burning shacks, burning shops and burnt people. The streets are crawling with bloodthirsty men calling for foreigners to leave the country…They showed images of a naked man being dragged by a mob of boys, blood gushing from his head, and then an image of a group of policemen pouring water over the body of an elderly woman. Hammers,axes,knives,bottles,sticks,rocks,men,women,children,animals everywhere (75). This madness does not end with hurting the foreigners and their belongings, but it goes beyond that, having a terrorizing consequence on fellow South Africans who sympathize with the foreigners. Because of the anti-xenophobia activism, she started to run. Three angry xenophobic South African men sneaked into the hospital premises and assaulted and raped her in one of the hospital rooms. And she shares the extent of their anger and vengeance for her actions: "They were sober, their minds clear as day. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they did it with such passion. They hated me so much. It was in their eyes, in their breath. I felt it on their skin. They were angry with me. They said I was a disappointment…" (113). They ruined her life, leaving her colleagues in fear for their safety, so they filed a complaint with the National Department of Health about security on the hospital premises.
In her scathing criticism of the post-apartheid society, Kopano Matlwa is determined to show how deep-rooted and widespread xenophobia is among the people of South Africa. She is always at loggerheads with her mam regarding the issue of foreigners. Her mam is so xenophobic that she describes them as witches who have come here to take what is not theirs using their magic.
When she is arguing with Masechaba about Nyasha, her Zimbabwean friend and colleague, whom her daughter has moved out with, she comments on foreigners: "These kwere-kweres, Masechaba, they'll use their black magic to steal all your intelligence, your whole future. Everything you've worked so hard for will be gone, and you'll be left with the nothing they arrived in this country with." (38) Through Masechaba's mam, Matlwa is showing how xenophobia is also common among the old generation who have developed a hatred for fellow Africans whom Masechaba's mam describes as "…people [who] want to come and steal the fruits of our struggle" (126).
It is even worse among the educated South Africans who blame the foreigners for stealing their economic opportunities and leaving South Africans to starve and suffer in poverty. Sister Palesa, a nurse at the hospital where Masechaba works, criticizes her anti-xenophobia petition campaign saying, "People can't feed their families, doctor. These foreigners are eating everything.
If it's not the Nigerians, it's the Somalis. If it's not the Somalis, it's the Chinese. Enough with this petition nonsense now, or you're really going to irritate people and get yourself hurt. Focus on your work. People around here don't like it when children don't know how to behave" (82).
This is exactly what the three men who raped her told her. She remembers what they said, "…I was a disappointment, that instead of helping my own people, I was running around with kwere-kweres, the very kwere-kweres that were ruining our country, stealing our jobs, using up our grants. Their children were starving because of these people, and I was making that worse." (113) Even patients who are supposed to be in need of help from their doctors happen to have the strength to vent their hate for foreign doctors. During the xenophobic violence a patient spat on a Nigerian doctor, and she "said she didn't want to be examined by a cockroach" (79).
The hatred is so deep that even the educated despise the foreigners so much that they discriminate against them even in places where health professionals have taken an oath to serve humanity. Masechaba hates the Obstetrics and Gynaecology staff as the nursing sisters in that department are "…mean and cruel, especially to the foreign patients. They call them dirt. They shout at them for coming in the middle of the night without antenatal books. They ask them why they fill up our wards." (48) When Masechaba was a first-year student at university one of her mates "refused to share a dorm room with [foreigners] because she said they smelt of menstrual blood" (74).
Xenophobia is also presented as a systemic problem entrenched at the government level regarding foreign professionals hired in government organizations. Nyasha, Masechaba's friend, is a medical officer in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department. But she is denied a higher title because she is not a South African. Masechaba tells us that "it was well known in the hospital that if it wasn't for her foreign nationality, she would already be a consultant obstetrician-gynecologist because she was a surgeon extraordinaire" (39).
To strike a balance and show to the world that all South Africans are not xenophobic, Kopano Matlwa speaks through the protagonist's voice, who is labeled as a "kwere-kwere lover" by the nursing staff at the hospital and has a good heart for everyone. Masechaba says, "[Mam and Nyasha] want me to hate white people, but I don't want to. I don't want to hate foreigners, either. I don't want to hate anybody." (52) She takes that to the next level and crosses the boundary set by xenophobic people not to mix with foreigners. She befriends a Zimbabwean colleague, Nyasha, and even moves out of home and lives with her under the same roof. She has a reasonable opinion of the foreigners, and she speaks of her, "She was so brave, so funny, so unapologetic.
Around her nothing seemed impossible." (38) When she describes her that she is a hard-working professional woman, she says, "Nyasha is a lone wolf at work. I never see her in the doctors' canteen. She always eats on the run. She's polite with the staff, but she doesn't care much for small talk." (53) But it is not only the protagonist but other characters who admire the foreigners for their hard work and determination. Sister Agnes, a colleague from the hospital, sympathizes with the foreigners and respects them for their diligence and purpose in life compared to fellow South Africans. She tells Masechaba: You know these foreigners, doctor. They don't mind starting from scratch if it'll get them ahead. They can start from scratch over and over again; they don't mind. As long as it'll get them ahead. Like Dr. Ogu, ne? Did you know he was a professor in his country? Why do you think he can do a bone marrow aspiration so fast? They are not like our children, these foreigners. Yoh, our children, doctor, they are just waiting for the next tender. It's business idea after business idea, they are out having drinks Monday to Sunday, and they tell you it's called networking. They drive big cars; you don't even know where the money comes from. If in the next ten years they tell us the president of the ANC is a Nigerian, you know, I wouldn't be surprised, doctor. We are sitting on our hands, us South Africans! Ah! Wena, you just wait and see (154).
Apart from individual characters, many people in their thousands have signed the petition and supported Masechaba's anti-xenophobia cause, through which Matlwa expresses her belief that xenophobia is not something that all South Africans hold. Some are xenophobic, but they do not represent all of them. And to change those who are xenophobic, people like Masechaba should come forward and act.
Through the portrayal of an ardent young female protagonist, Matlwa calls the need for social change to forge a nation where everyone is treated equally despite their origin. She claims that the young generation is responsible for spearheading the movement.

CONCLUSION
In their novels, Mhlongo and Matlwa exposed how South Africans see their fellow Africans.
South Africans make no difference from the black foreigners who come from different African countries and put them in one category. This is in line with the scapegoating and isolation hypotheses of xenophobia in which "the foreigner is treated as a homogenous category" (Harris, 2002, p.5). Whether the foreigner is a Nigerian, a Somali, a Zimbabwean, or an Ethiopian, they are equally vulnerable to xenophobia. In the two novels, the authors have shown that xenophobic South Africans view black foreigners as job stealers, criminals, drug dealers, witches, and bringers of disease.
In their attempt to neutralise xenophobia, Mhlongo and Matlwa try to put some sense into the South African readership and explain that black foreigners should not be identified as the bad guys. In Dog Eat Dog, for example, the protagonist shares his opinion that black international students pay for their studies and contribute to the economy, not only beneficiaries. Matlwa shows how black foreign professionals contribute to the health system in South Africa and explains that the foreigners, skilled or unskilled, work hard for their economic betterment. In her novel, Matlwa is also determined to expose the horrors of xenophobic violence that hurt foreigners and has a significant consequence on South Africans. Infusing foreign characters' perspectives on xenophobia in the two novels can help the readers understand how others feel about it. Another way the authors try to neutralize xenophobia is by demonstrating that not all South Africans are xenophobic and that some do not regard foreigners as a threat to their nation.
The authors also hint at the possible cause of xenophobia. In Dog Eat Dog, a foreign character shares his opinion that the xenophobic media has a role in raising xenophobia sentiments by representing Nigerians as drug dealers and criminals. In Period Pain, isolation and scapegoating theories of xenophobia are demonstrated, and the role apartheid played in xenophobia in South Africa is hinted at. What is most striking about how Matlwa treated the issue of xenophobia is that she is optimistic that it will be a thing of the past as time passes. The portrayal of xenophobia in the two novels suggests that a counter-narrative should be put forward to debunk the negative stereotype about black foreigners, and the responsibility should be shared among different actors like the media, the art, and popular culture. The government also should take the lion's share in alleviating the problem by addressing the underlying causes of xenophobia, boosting people-topeople diplomacy with other African countries, and providing safety and security to African immigrants.