‘We came at the wrong time’: How Foreign Immigrants Experience the Precarious Insideness of ‘Safety’ in a Johannesburg Township

Foreign immigrants have historically not had a positive place-based experience in South Africa. The country has had numerous socio-economic and socio-political realities that have led to an unfavourable site and situation for people considered to be coming from ‘outside’. This article documents how foreign immigrants have been experiencing a township in the city of Johannesburg through how safe or unsafe the immigrants have felt. Data were collected through 64 surveys and eight in-depth interviews. The article finds that foreign immigrants experience the host township in two ways. First, the immigrants compare conditions in the host environment as they relate to where they have come from – locally and internationally. This is where the township is experientially stripped and used as a template from which to judge previous place-based experience. Second, the often changing levels of harassment experienced by the foreign immigrants lead to an anxiety-filled existence within the host township. The harassment comes from both the official institutions of the township and the general public that sporadically either highlight or downplay how undesired the foreign immigrants are. Feeling (un)safe is a form of ‘insideness’ within the township. Ultimately, the deepening experience of the host township shows the foreign immigrants that safety is not guaranteed. Periods of decreased safety are experienced as part of being a foreigner in the township.