Xenophobia in SA
Thanks for the emails, sms’s, comments etc. Me and the fam are safe and sound.
Most of the targets of the attacks have been those who were already vulnerable and living in the townships/poorer parts of town. That’s no comfort to us though, because the violence seems to be spiraling out of control with no end in sight. In the news this afternoon there was a report of a businessman who was killed because he hired foreigners and parts of down Joburg are a no-go. In addition, many of us, including yours truly, have hired “foreigners” in our homes/businesses etc. and are worried about their fate and the fate of their families.
There have been all sorts of attempts to analyze what has led to the current outbreak of violence and link it to various things like the high cost of living, crime levels, lack of service delivery by the government, and a third force. Politicians are especially jumping on the “criminals taking advantage” line.
I beg to differ…while poverty, etc. may be contributing factors…what is going on is out and out xenophobia (and at the risk of generalization)….they is no way around it. The interviews I have seen on TV with mobs laughing as their victims are dying, and openly saying that foreigners will be killed if they don’t leave have no other explanation. A call-in radio show by a reputable host that I was listening to yesterday had quite a number of callers agreeing with the rampaging mobs…these foreigners need to go. A few days ago, when the violence started in Alexandria, the Democratic Alliance (an opposition party) saw it best to respond by carrying out an investigation into how many government houses have been allocated to foreigners in Alexandria. They came up with a grand total of three. This was breaking news on the radio. Never mind that the allocations were to foreigners who were permanent residents in South Africa and entitled to housing benefits. These kinds of reactions by politicians, he media, and a general lets pin the problem on everyone else especially Mugabe/Mbeki are making things worse.
This is not something that has just suddenly erupted, xenophobia in South Africa has long been documented (since immigrants started arriving post-1994)….and in my experience it is very difficult to find any African immigrant in my circle who feels integrated or genuinely welcome here….most people carve out their only little niches and circles and focus on what brought them here, because it is really difficult to become “local”…even with effort.
At the moment, there is no sense of when and how this will end…just a desperate hope that it will be soon.
EDIT: For a more comprehensive view of the situation, read this post.
Popularity: 27% [?]
on May 20th, 2008 at 9:52
Glad you safe and fam. Prayers will be said and hope that South Africans will realize that we can’t all live by ourselves we need to cohabit with each others.
on May 20th, 2008 at 10:15
Glad to hear that you and your family are safe. All the best and stay out of the trouble spots.
on May 20th, 2008 at 10:59
Thanks Ory!
First and foremost, thank God you and your family are safe! And secondly, keep up the sunny and positive disposition you always have………..you’ve been through a lot with the Kenyan crisis and now this, especially feeling on edge in your every day backyard! It is certainly enough to make one despair but there are always silver linings.
I think the SA situation mirrors to a certain degree the Kenyan one……simmering resentments and rage that have not found outlets for acknowledgement and redress and now have exploded. I think widespread xenophobia is indisputable but I do not think some of the reasons are without merit. As much as the rest of the continent supported South Africa during apartheid, the fact still remains that South Africans mostly suffered alone. And that is not to blame anyone else for not sharing in the suffering, it is just a simple fact. I have also read some excellent analyses about how South Africa is struggling with its identity now some 14 years in to nationhood. The burden of unrealized expectations, the legacy of apartheid and the dual societies and economies…….again, by no means is this a justification just an observation that South Africans are in no mood to be magnanimous when there is such widespread disaffection and dissatisfaction with the status quo.
And the irony of the situation is that South Africa will need a large influx of skilled labor, preferably other Africans to sustain and expand the economic growth needed to build a robust middle class but understandably that is a HARD PILL for the working class in the country to swallow because of the immediate implications of that. Perhaps it will be beneficial for South Africans to have their period of isolation and insularity, and let them see for themselves if this is truly the cure for their problems. I think the mistake many have made, especially Mbeki is downplaying the causes and effects of this xenophobia, and wishing it away……and now it is blown up in everybodys face and is front and center to be dealt with.
on May 20th, 2008 at 11:12
P.S. I disagree with those calling for more government intervention. This is not a ‘government’ problem it is a SOUTH AFRICAN one and spans all levels of society. It is about what self identity individual South Africans craft for themselves, and as someone pointed out the degree of self esteem that accomodates and welcomes a pluralistic society.
on May 20th, 2008 at 15:02
Thoughts and prayers for your fam. Be safe.
on May 21st, 2008 at 7:45
Thanks for linking. Stay paranoid (therefore safe?).
on May 21st, 2008 at 9:22
Good to hear that you are all safe. I saw the changes that SA went through from 1994-till 2001 when I left and I can testify that some parts of the country went down pretty fast. Hillbrow and Jo’burg CBD were the places to hang out in 1994-1995 but that changed very fast. Xenophobia problem has been there since I went there and was still there by the time I left. They called us foreigners Makwerekwere. I think worse is yet to come and especially if Zuma becomes the next president.
on May 21st, 2008 at 10:48
@ Sijui
If the government does not take a firm stand on the situation, who will? Who will come to the rescue of the men set to flames, the women getting raped and the children being traumatized? Isn’t the role of government to protect the rights of those that dwell within its jurisdiction?
Ory, thanks for the update on the situation. I am trying to understand what triggered the outbreak of violence at this particular time. I am sure that the South Africans did not just wake up one morning and decide to go berserk. What is it that tipped the scales, moving Xenophobic violence from random attacks to a more orchestrated assault on all foreigners in the country?
Does anyone have any ideas on how we can generate a paradigm shift for African people, moving them from resorting to violence to dialog-driven solutions? Call to enlightenment? Education?
on May 22nd, 2008 at 18:59
hey Ory!
hope you and your family continue to be safe.
Hope your employees/mboch or whomever are trustworthy.
peace!
on May 23rd, 2008 at 8:29
I read that they are 5 million African immigrants in South Africa and that’s a whole lot of people.
I think Mbeki has to shouldder some of the blame here because he has supported Mugabe’s dictatorial regime for years and many of these people are economic immigrants trying to escape the collapsed economy in neighboring Zimbabwe.
Mbeki needs to tell his comrade in arms, mugabe, to give up the fight and let other people fix that country, but his refused to do it and the consequences of that are now spilling over into South Africa.
on May 26th, 2008 at 9:05
Brothers and Sisters, we can talk of enlightenment, education etc; however, without talking the language of economics, we are going to see more violence time and time again.
From history we can see that such type of violence is not limited to African countries. Even France has recently experienced street youth violence, this is the same France that had a violent uprising of the poor masses against the rich class a century or so ago!
Mbeki happens to be in power now, had Nelson Mandela been the one in postion as the president at the moment, chances are that, violence would have happened, may not exactly the same way, but some-how those economically deprived youth would have expressed their displeasure in some urgly public form.
About Zimbabwe, when Mugabe is out of power, and hopefully soon, any leader that comes in, will be faced with land and race issues as well as immediate economic meltdown of that nation. I don’t think anyone can improve the economy of Zimbabwe let alone get UK’s financial support without returning the land to the white firmers. And once any leader does that, he or she will have dag their political grave.