Immigration and the (Ir)relevance of the South African Racial Classification System: Towards Transforming the Official Racial Categories

Abstract

Scholars examining the South African racial classification system have suggested that apartheid-era racial categories continue to officially classify the South African population. However, there is little discussion about the extent to which the South African racial classification configuration is relevant to new immigrants and refugees (or their descendants) and whether the system will endure or undergo transformation in the face of a growing immigration-induced racial and ethnic diversity. It is palpable that new immigrants and refugees will continue to find apartheid-era South African racial categories incompatible with identities they brought from their home countries. I draw on some empirical works conducted in South Africa and examples in other national contexts such as the USA to argue that the rigid quaternary South African racial classification system, which is based on White, Black, Indian, and Colored racial categories, might be transformed or re-configured due to shifts and transformations in the racial and ethnic makeup of the South African population owing to immigration. Furthermore, such re-configuration might occur if immigrant and refugee communities or their descendants lobby the South African state to create identities for them. Currently, and in the context of widespread public and institutional xenophobia and exclusion of non-citizens, it is paramount to create categories that refer to “foreign-origin” to tackle systemic discrimination based on foreign origin and accelerate institutional integration of refugees and immigrants.