The South African government is faced with a major dilemma in the way that it approaches claims of xenophobia in South Africa. On the one hand they cannot be seen to be hysterical as this would only fan the flames created by panic merchants and those who would gain advantage while on the other they dare not ignore any claims lest they find themselves explaining away a massacre.
In 2008 the country was afforded the opportunity to study this monster up close and personal. Not because it was the first time violence against foreigners was perpetrated in South Africa, far from it. It goes way back to 1910 and the Union of South Africa when foreigners were regarded as people to fear and despise.
What was difficult to comprehend was the fact that despite South Africa becoming a democracy, xenophobia increased.
In 2008 it finally exploded and the world looked at South Africa with a mixture of bewilderment and anger.
Because the attacks were directed by township dwellers at migrants from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe it represented local black communities preying on blacks from other African countries.
The continent saw it as ingratitude for all the support given during apartheid and the international community simply considered it a barbaric uncalled for outpouring of resentment and anger at innocent people.
Undoubtedly they were right but the underlying causes needed to be addressed.
The Human Sciences Research Council identified four main causes:
At that time I ventured into the township of Alexandra and spoke to residents and people at Wynberg Court. They were of the view that the main issue as far as they were concerned was lack of service delivery and corruption in local authorities. In this regard foreigners paying bribes to get housing while they wait on lists for years.
As former president Mbeki pointed out — correctly — at the time there was also a criminal element which attaches itself to any violence of this kind. It allows them to latch on as part of the mob while their real motive is robbing and looting under cover of political turmoil.
Accordingly the government has the added difficulty of distinguishing grievances from greed while deciding whether this is genuine xenophobia or just opportunism at work.
The answer has to be to err on the side of caution and clamp down hard.
Two reasons :
Firstly it will send a message to law-abiding citizens that this type of conduct will not be tolerated even if the grievances are real. There are channels now open to them and if they feel that they are inappropriate then suggest others while living with the ones in operation right now. If not it’s off to jail with police mandated to clamp down hard on any violence. This will send South Africans, foreigners and the international community the right signal. Anarchy is unacceptable.
Secondly the criminals will know that they are going to be sent to prison and this will deter them. Going to jail for crime or politics is still going to jail and will act as a major deterrent.
In Kya Sands police are reporting that tensions are running high and a stand-off is developing. There is a heavy police presence after reports that four foreign nationals, of Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and one South African had been attacked in clashes on Tuesday night. In addition there were “allegations of looting”.
The fact is there are millions of foreigners in South Africa. The chances are they could be attacked like any local citizen. The fact that there is looting involved means it could be xenophobia or criminals at work.
In 2008 more than 60 people were killed and thousands were displaced as South Africa disintegrated into xenophobic attack after attack.
The crime statistics are, as ever, unacceptable.
Police — erring on the side of caution as set out above — can strike a blow against both evils by hitting them hard and quickly. Send a signal to other communities from Kya Sands.
Xenophobia practisioners and criminals are the same.
With the “Sepp Blatter judicional system” in place, they could be in jail before the end of any week they committed their crimes.
Are we yet again spending longer on “talking about the problem” rather then addressing the problem.
And the government need to control our borders and very soon. But then again everyone is corrupt and no one can help with the security of the country.
South Africans are displaying a fatalistic naivety if they think that by driving out foreigners they will resolve service delivery and employment problems.
Of all the countries in Africa, this is one which offers immense potential for all that live in it. It is up to the government to apply the same resolute focus which resulted in South Africa hosting the best World Cup ever, in rooting out this terrible evil which threatens to cancel all recent achivements.
When it comes to the Zimbabweans in SA it’s a ripple effect of “quiet diplomacy”, which made home so awful for them that they came here. However, history repeats itself and Mbeki and Zuma have helped Mugabe just as Vorster helped Smith. If only the next step of history could apply with the world putting pressure on SA to force change in Zim, the way Kissinger put a gun to Vorster’s head who, in turn, put a gun to Smith’s head.(I remember a cartoon of that!) It’s time the “new Rhodies” (Zanu-PF fat cats) saw the end of the road and that the world demanded that leaders chosen by the ballot lead Zimbabwe. What a sad history!
Piano score :
White stave,Minim For two Quater notes,
Eighth notes,Blood-red,In syncopated tears,
On the piano keys Our fingers Colored.
Anick Roschi 05.07.10
One can equate xenophobia with homophobia.
There is an outcry in Zimbabwean forums about these attacks.The same people in these forums were ululating to Mugabes wish to destroy all gays and lesbians and never giving them breathing space.
If elections in Zimbabwe were held and the only issue was gays and lesbians Mugabe would win in a landslide.
The same zimbabweeans complaining about xenophobia are the same that will gayly attack and hound gays out of Zimbabwe. Maybe the chickens are coming home to roost
The clumsiness of statements that this is “crime”, and not xenophobia do not help. This will morph quickly into denialism that will only serve to embolden those who commit the crimes.
To what extent do our laws add penalties to crimes that involve racism? I don’t necessarily agree with that idea, but attacks on foreigners must surely attract such penalties if they do.
Methinks the HSRC have hit the nail on the head. But if you release yourself from the shackles of political correctness, the causes are simple: Saffers have a sense of entitlement, that the world owes us something. We have this real sense that we are better than somebody else, and therefore, we can get something for nothing. Thus we don’t want to work. And when someone DOES work hard and then gets ahead, a Zimbabwean, for instance, we feel done in and we feel betrayed. Instead of addressing the issue, we just take it out on those we deem to have gained “unfairly” – their prosperity should have been ours, dammit.
Ayn Rand put it very well: “Resentment at the success of another is the hallmark of the second-rater”. Screw Ayn Rand – the primary schoolers says it better, actually. “jealousy makes you nasty”. And that is what SA has become, a jealous nation of second-raters rife with resentment and entitlement. Once we realise WE ARE NOT SPECIAL and everyone has to bend his back to make a living, same as everybody else, and not hide behind “service delivery” as an excuse, we will heal this country. Oh, and exercising your democratic right also plays here. You cannot complain about corrupt governments who never delivers if you stupidly keep voting them in…
Xenophobia: we have not seen the end of this yet and it will get worse.
Yes there is a criminal element and we have all seen the looters on TV walking past the police carrying their loot, without hindrance or even so much as a dirty look. Its OK to loot foreigners shops it seems. In other countries, looters are shot on sight but its a free for all in South Africa. AND
the main problem is our open borders that welcome in people when our own people have to go without. No other country does this either as they put their citizens first. No so in South Africa – all ‘brothers’ are welcome even though we have more than a 50% unemployment rate, limited or finite resources but, who cares as “South Africa is free for all”.
This is going to endup in a free for all and it will get worse until and when our immigration policies favour the citizens of this country. Some estimates put the inflow at over 5 million. This is a 10% increase on our finite resources. Does it suit Mugabe? Yes he has exported his problems to us with the help of the ANC’s Quiet Diplomacy. In most countries invaders are met with guns and cannons. In South Africa they are met with facilities and opportunities not afforded to South Africans.
This is not Xenophobia, it is people fighting for their very livelihoods and they see the invaders as exactly that – invaders.
Like anything else SAn, comments and reactions on xenophobia assume a justificatory tone, either on behalf of the government’s reaction, the victims, or the “poor” perpetrators of violence. Depending on where one stands, reports on the issue are worth a fleeting glance, a compassionate grandstanding, or a display of callous irritation by those strong enough to lavish an occasional benevolence on the weak.
Failure to consider the ethnic and racial foundations of the SA society leads to fleeting pity for those on the receiving end barbarism. There is no profound search for why barbaric attacks on his kind are attributable to man only, more than any other animal, yet he is the only one who has mastered various forms of communication. While animals of a kind would scramble together for scarce resources, it is only human beings that resort to racial, ethnic, territorial wars, destruction, theft, against his own, to eke out a living.
Besides, human beings pass, and then break, their own laws, in enclaves carved by politicians as their “territories”, where they contrive every trick to rule permanently, to the exclusion of everyone else except their own.
Mr Trapido, will you explain the history of this “Ministerial Hand Book” who has written it, when, are those contents “carved in stone”
KJ Muller
Yeah sure there are criminal elements.
Howvever, the real cause is that South Africa’s foreign policy towards Zimbabwe has caused the problem and it has has a direct impact on the poor citizens of this country. There are now approximatelt 4.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa thanks to Thabo Mkeki’s surreal support for Mugabe’s zanupf. Zimbabweans are better educated, have a better attitude and are desperate. Poor South Africans see these people getting the jobs whilst they remain unemployed. That’s the reality.
If SA wants this problem to go away, then force Mugabe to accept the will of the people through FREE and FAIR elections and cease giving thr green light to Mugabe’s rigging and HR abuses.
All Zimbabweans want to go home and live in peace. This support for zanupf’s uncivilsed behaviour must stop.
our history has shown our inherent xenophobic culture
such as rooi gevaar (red danger)- russians
jod gevaar (jew danger)-jews
engelse gevaar (english danger)-british
swart gevaar (black danger)- blacks
geel gevaar (yellow danger)- chinese
Laws were even created to exclude them.
Recently in 2008 a court had to show the rest of
the apparently blind south africans that chinese people were treated as subhuman until 2008.
Our government has been for a while apathetic to the needs of the people and the influx of people from outside this problem has been bubbling under for a while now, the sad scenario is that they are dealing with a pretty insurmountable predicament and it’s nobody’s fault,but theirs….the people down have to sadly share and fight for whatever little resources(houses,jobs,etc) that are available among themselves and now foreigners nad im not saying it’s believe me….the gov. needs to step with their service and promises,arresting folks wont solve the problem…..
Open borders are a recipe for serious problems in the future.
4000 amnesty applications PER DAY. Estimated 6 million refugees already in SA. [more than the white, coloured and Indian populatio combined?]
You do not have to be a helicopter pilot to know the problems staring us in the face.
Just put yourself in the shoes of a person crossing the border and follow the sequence of events awaiting you. No food, no cloths, no accommodation, no employment, long periods to eventually obtain legal resident documents, etc etc. Who pays for all of this.
This issue will come back to bite us big time.
The demon (xenophobia), has reared it’s ugly head. The carnage will begin in due course and it’s going to engulf the entire country. The ANC, through their sheer incompetency to govern in an orderly fashion, has created this state of affairs. Once there are no more foreigners left for the locals to vent their anger on, what or who next? Make sure that your passport is still valid and has not expired.
To my way of thinking xenophobia has been with us since Jan van Riebeeck stepped off his ship and the blame should swing across the years.
But here and now, there is no Bantu education; public health facilities, such as they are, are available to all and every South African adult has the vote. And those are only examples…
Zimbabweans generally have a better work ethic, although I notice that more and more are now being detained for criminal offences.
So tell me, what rational government expects crime to drop along with employment?
It would be naive indeed if South Africans thought that by meeting all Zimbabwe’s demands then Zimbabweans will quietly go away. No chance, we are here to stay, infact more are still to come. South Africa is our second home soon to be our only home and there’s gonna be no changing that not too soon, even Malema won’t change that, so you might as well get used to it. This is not a threat nor is it arrogance I’m telling you matter of factly. I simply don’t see South African authorities mastering enough courage or the political will or acumen to deal with this. Sorry friends but you are stuck with us. You don’t believe me go ahead and solve Zimbabwe’s problems let’s whether you win.