At the dawn of this New Year in January, xenophobic attacks on foreigners living in South Africa occurred in Soweto and some other areas leading to massive looting of Somali-owned shops, loss of livelihood and avoidable loss of lives in particular that of a 14-year-old teenager and a 13-month-old baby! Presumably, slow response of the relevant authorities has led to widespread killings and destruction of properties. The question remains; why all these attacks?
A foreigner (synonyms — alien, incomer, immigrant, non-native, newcomer, settler, stranger, and outlander) is one who is from a foreign country or place, or one from outside a particular group or community. Xenophobia on the other hand is the unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange. Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of the locals towards the newcomer, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed purity. It can also be exhibited in the form of an “uncritical exaltation of another culture” in which a culture is ascribed “an unreal, stereotyped and exotic quality”.
Despite a lack of directly comparable data, xenophobia in South Africa is perceived to have significantly increased after the installation of a democratic government in 1994. According to a 2004 study published by the Southern African Migration Project, the government in its attempt to overcome the divides of the past and build new forms of social cohesion embarked on an aggressive and inclusive nation-building project. One unanticipated by-product of this project has been a growth in intolerance towards outsiders. Violence against foreign citizens and African refugees has become increasingly common and communities are divided by hostility and suspicion. According to a 1998 Human Rights Watch report, immigrants from Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique living in the Alexandra township in north-eastern part of Johannesburg were physically assaulted over a period of several weeks in January 1995, as armed gangs identified suspected undocumented migrants and marched them to the police station in an attempt to “clean” the township of foreigners. The campaign, known as “Buyelekhaya” (go back home), blamed foreigners for crime, unemployment and sexual attacks. On May 12, 2008, a series of riots started again in the township of Alexandra when locals attacked migrants killing two people and injuring 40 others. In the following weeks, the violence spread, first to other settlements in the Guateng Province, then to the coastal cities of Durban and Cape Town. Attacks were also reported in parts of the Southern Cape, Mpumalanga, the North West and Free State. During these ongoing xenophobic attacks, more than 2,000 foreigners have already been displaced and sought shelter in refugee camps in Durban. The refugee camps, set up on sports fields around the city, will not be large enough if attacks on immigrants continue, said Imtiaz Sooliman of the Gift of the Givers organisation. Many of those affected by xenophobic sentiments in the country have roots in Somalia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Nigeria.
A report by the Human Sciences Research Council identified four broad causes for the violence; relative deprivation, specifically intense competition for jobs, commodities and housing; group processes, including psychological categorisation processes that are nationalistic rather than super ordinate; South African exceptionalism, or a feeling of superiority in relation to other Africans; and exclusive citizenship, or a form of nationalism that excludes others. A 2004 study by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation of attitudes among police officers in the Johannesburg area however, found that 87 per cent of respondents “believed” that most immigrants in Johannesburg are involved in crime, despite there being no statistical evidence to substantiate the perception. As reinstated by the chairperson of the portfolio committee on Small Business Development, Ms Ruth Bengu, in this age of globalisation, contacts with foreign-owned businesses should be such that concepts as capital accumulation, savings culture, customer relations and stock accountability are enhanced. South Africa’s way out of poverty is through the motivation and integration of strong and sustainable small business enterprises.
It will be imperative to note that human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights such as the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights (the rights to work, social security and education) are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible and should not be violated. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action urged all governments to take immediate measures and to develop strong policies to prevent and combat all forms and manifestations of racism, xenophobia or related intolerance, where necessary by enactment of appropriate legislation including penal measures. Speaking in parliament last Thursday, President Jacob Zuma called the attacks “shocking” and “unacceptable”. “No amount of frustration or anger can ever justify the attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of their shops. We condemn the violence in the strongest possible terms. The attacks violate all the values that South Africa embodies,” Zuma said.
As our dear Tata, Nelson Mandela, said, “Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil themselves.” Let us know that we or our children or our children’s children will be foreigners in another country or place at one point or the other during our or their lifetime. We therefore owe our children a life free from violence and fear. “I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his kin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite.” Let there be love shared amongst us for ultimately, we are all foreigners on this earth!
Dr. Adenubi wrote in from the Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Culled from the Punch
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