The author clearly has no idea of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma's history. She's a potentially powerful figure in South Africa's ruling ANC who is in a cushy job that is really political exile.<p>As such, she's free to talk up ideas that sound great in The Economist (conservative macro-economics, zealous climate change action, consumer protection, gay rights, health laws) but never have to convince a single member of the electorate about their merits. Issues are somewhere between "don't care" and "when hell freezes over" in the electorate's mind.<p>This particular issue is on the extreme end of frozen hell. Poor South Africans perceive foreigners as criminals and/or a direct threat to their livelihoods, and the tension regularly boils over into violence. There's plenty of room for nuance: the violence is extreme but it is a fact that we have an appalling history of (and in some cases ongoing) exploitation, including hiring seasonal foreign workers (illegally) for lower wages than locals.<p>Regardless, nothing like the EU freedom of movement is ever going to happen.<p>Republicans in the US are more likely to support Obama immigration reforms for Mexicans than South Africans would vote for millions of Congolese, Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Malawians, Sudanese migrants/refugees to be allowed to hold jobs here.