Opinion Leadership on Threats and Enhancers to Social Cohesion and Unity of South Africans and African Immigrants: A South African Perspective

Jonathan Oshupeng Maseng^1,2,3,4*

• ¹Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, Mbombela, South Africa
• ²Mohamed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco
• ³University of Mpumalanga, Nelspruit, South Africa
• ⁴University of Mpumalanga, School of Social Sciences, Mbombela, South Africa

Despite the fact that there is significant research on the influence of opinion leaders on values, opinions, and actions of people in various societies, it appears that there are limited studies in South African context which focus on how these opinion leaders affect social cohesion and unity between South Africans and African immigrants.Although some research has examined factors that influence social cohesion between these groups, there is a lack of comprehensive studies on the specific role of opinion leaders in enhancing or threatening social cohesion between African immigrants and South Africans. Through the usage of exploratory and case study research designs as well as qualitative methods, this paper seeks to fill this gap by exploring how opinion leaders such as the South African government and its officials, politicians and political parties as well as the media, affect social cohesion between South Africans and African immigrants. The argues that opinion leaders can positively and negatively affect social cohesion between these groups. The paper recommends that political parties, government officials, and media play a key role in promoting unity and peaceful coexistence between nationals and immigrants. This has significant implications for enhancing social cohesion and unity in South African communities composed of African immigrants and South African nationals.