XENOPHOBIA AND THE LEADERSHIP FACTOR IN ALEXANDRA
Date
2014-02-19
Authors
LIPHOKO, MOTHEPANE ELIZABETH
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Abstract
South African townships were dominated by a storm of violence in 2008. The attacks in
Gauteng Province started in Alexandra Township on the 11 May 2008. The violence was
inflicted on foreign nationals by South Africans. The communities and the authorities worked
hard to normalise the situation and by late 2008 the situation had normalised. Some foreign
nationals returned to their countries of origin while others decided to bite the bullet and return
to the same areas they were ejected from during the attacks. These attacks erupt every now
and then and the recent one was in Alexandra where residents alleged that houses were
issued to foreign nationals while South Africans could not get any whatsoever.
Some research-based reports emerged following the 2008 xenophobic violence, indicating how
different leaders of different social institutions served as the responding agents and sites of
future conflict resolution efforts. These findings opened doors for more research on the role of
leadership in dealing with xenophobia in Alexandra. Leadership has been there and is still
there to deal with xenophobia in the area, what is not known is what are the leadership factors
in dealing with xenophobia on the part of the locals in Alexandra, what leadership trends are
being followed in dealing with xenophobia.
The purpose of this research was to gain deeper and better understanding of the factors
leading to the perceived lack of Alexandra leadership in dealing with xenophobia in Alexandra
from the community members and community leadership of Alexandra. The study analysed
and recommended leadership strategies which can be considered in dealing with xenophobia
in Alexandra. The findings and recommendations of this study may assist with the strategies
that can be applied to prevent xenophobic attacks in South Africa as well as internationally.
This qualitative research method used one-on-one interviews as a method to collect data. The
results of the study suggest that the leadership is still using the traditional methods of
leadership. The issue of communication is still not up to standard given the findings from the
study on poor flow of information. Information is flowing from top-down only and there is no free
flow of information to all levels of the organization’s hierarchy. The way information is flowing
raises a challenge of community members being unable to provide feedback to leadership.
This is an indication of lack of interaction and relations. The leadership style adopted by
leadership in Alexandra is more threatening to community members than being corrective and
developmental.
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It is therefore recommended that leadership move away from using the traditional way of
leadership and evolves to new sciences leadership. The leadership in Alexandra, in dealing
with xenophobia, must consider the leadership strategies such as cconsultation with
community in planning implementing and monitoring activities/ projects that are related with
xenophobia. For people to change from being xenophobic to being tolerant is a process which
needs continuous intervention. Activities aiming at addressing change are therefore supposed
to be continuous and not once off. The support provided to people need to not only emphasise
the plans and strategies but also look into a human element. The plans are not undergoing
change but the human being is.
Description
MM (P&DM) thesis
Keywords
Xenophobia, Leadership