Combattants and Baswahili: Beyond Ethno-regional Tensions among Congolese Immigrants of Cape Town, South Africa

This paper focuses on the combattants (French for “fighters”), a diaspora group from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and their activities in Cape Town, South Africa. While the combattants publicly identify as socio-political activists, for ordinary Congolese (especially eastern Congolese) they are simply a Congolese gang because of the violence that characterises their modus operandi. This research focuses on understanding the combattants’ antagonism toward eastern Congolese, especially in the last term of President Joseph Kabila in office. While acknowledging that the politics of the DRC largely shape the everyday lives of Congolese migrants in South Africa, this paper looks more into the role played by the host country—South Africa—in intra-Congolese migrants’ identity conflicts and the formation of gang-like groups such as the combattants. This paper stresses the links between the South African migration system that favours some Congolese ethno-regional groups (mainly those from the war zones—the eastern region/Kivu) over others (from the relatively peaceful western region that Kinshasa incarnates) and the hatred the combattants have towards eastern Congolese. Focusing roughly on the period between 2011 and 2018, the paper argues that feuds between the combattants (from western Congo) and eastern Congolese are also a struggle between the “winners” and the “losers” produced and reproduced through South African migration laws and policies.