18 OPINIONSUNDAY TRIBUNE APRIL 19 2015

IOFTEN say living in South Africa islike being on a constantrollercoaster. One minute

everything is wonderful, and the nextit seems like everything might comecrashing down at the drop of a hat.

Today is one of the latter days.South Africa has been putting aplaster over the seeping wound that isxenophobia for too long, and earlierthis week, the inaction on the part ofthe government sparked a wave ofsenseless attacks against foreigners,fellow Africans, who left theirhomelands in search of a betterfuture.

These horrific attacks are not justa complete assault on everything theSouth African Constitutionrepresents, but go against what itmeans to be a human being.

This recent eruption of targetedattacks against foreigners has beenbrewing for months, if not years. Our

ailing economy certainly doesn’tmake the situation better.

At least six people have been killed,more than 2 000 foreigners havealready sought shelter in refugeecamps in Durban, the violence hasspread to Joburg, the Malawigovernment has begun what it callsits voluntary repatriation programmefor citizens in the wake of theviolence and there have been calls by

African states to boycott SouthAfrican products, businesses and evenperformers.

What I find even more puzzling isSouth Africans are targeting the verypeople who took them in duringapartheid, nations who marched andcampaigned with us against anoppressive system. If anyone wouldknow how awful it is to be persecutedsimply for existing, it is SouthAfricans.

It is South Africa’s duty to be asrespectful to other African countriesas they have always been to us.

After all we have been through as anation, it is unfathomable that thiswouldn’t be ingrained into each andevery one of us.

The attacks are especiallyupsetting on Yom HaShoah, the daywhen the world remembers the 6million Jews who were killed by theNazis. Yom HaShoah, a day which

serves another reminder thatsenseless hatred has no boundaries.

I also think back to our greatNelson Mandela whose message wasalways one of tolerance andacceptance. I wonder how he wouldfeel witnessing the tarnishing of hisdream of a rainbow nation.

Having said all of this, I have also witnessed something remarkablethis week. Almost 10,000 SouthAfricans of all colours, creeds andbackgrounds came together to marchin peace against the violence, ademonstration in my opinion, of theindomitable South African andAfrican spirit.

Earlier this week, I also attended amarch by hundreds of Wits studentsagainst the barbaric Garissa attacksin Kenya earlier this month.

Tolerance is key in breaking downthe barriers of prejudice and hate.

The work Homecoming Revolution

is doing aims to help Africansrecognise each other as Africans, andcalls for Africans from all corners ofthe world to recognise this belovedcontinent as home to all of us.

As Professor Jonathan Jansen hassaid, “The overwhelming majority ofSouth Africans believe in a middlepath somewhere betweenreconciliation and social justice.”

We refuse to let our pride in being South African be hijacked byradicals.

We call on everyone to standtogether and be reminded of how farwe have come and how we all deserveto live in Madiba’s vision.

● Angel Jones is the CEO and

founder of Homecoming Revolution, an

organisation set up to facilitate and

encourage skilled professionals

working overseas to return to South

Africa and other countries on the

continent.

THE government was being heldto ransom this week – caught ina grip between morally

indefensible xenophobia, globalmigration and acknowledging thatgrassroots feelings against foreigners,largely African, have roots in thedented dream of democracy.

An escalation of ongoingxenophobia since 2008, rather than anew outbreak, the week’s anti-foreigner events held up a mirror forSouth Africans and their government.The events were a microcosm of muchthat has gone wrong in the globally-linked democratic South Africa andreflected uncomfortable realities ofcitizen reaction to having lost both the1994 ideal and the trust that thegovernment will make things right.

By this weekend, the spread ofAfro-xenophobic attacks around thecountry indicted the perpetrators.These citizens suffer socio-economicdeprivation and relate their real orimagined experiences of disrespectand deficits to their inability tocompete with foreigners.

They are squeezed by the harshrealities of global migration, whilethey are still clutching at the fruits oftheir national liberation.

The outbreaks reminded us thatmany community protests includecriminals who loot because they can.Chances are, they will not be broughtto book because communities shieldthem, police look on, release followsarrest.

Even more, the week broughtevidence of marauding mobs hungryfor violent confrontation – also withthose who denounce xenophobia. Thedishonour, however, extends beyondthese underclasses to the middleclasses, who live aloof from thesuffering that comes with ongoingpoverty and emasculation in the racefor scarce resources.

The week’s events were in-escapably also an indictment of thegovernment. To be sure, it gave aformidable display of what can bedone if political will arrives. Theweek’s concerted government actionsand declarations contrasted withnon-existent government repertoires

when xenophobic cases of the pastsix years had been swept under thecommunity protest carpet.

The chickens of the de facto policyof open borders came home to roost.The president’s parliamentaryannouncement of sharper bordercontrol confirmed the prevailingpolicy failure.

In place of feeble responses, thegovernment this week delivered twopresidential interventions, thesecurity cluster stepped in and specificministers launched reprimands, anti-xenophobic campaigns and deployedmore police and other security forces.There was heightened humanitarianaction and refugee (née displacement)centres sprang up.

The ANC, Cosatu and SACP issuedstatements and held briefings tocondemn killing and looting. Thegovernment met ambassadors ofcountries whose citizens were affected.

Of course, not all of this week’sgovernment actions were exemplary.Feeble rhetoric repeated itself.Criminality and national disgracebecame “unacceptable”, rather than“morally reprehensible”.

King Goodwill Zwelithini gotunparalleled kid-glove treatment.President Jacob Zuma reinforcednational liberation rhetoric inrelating how the ANC was treatedgenerously when in exile but ignoredthat, in political struggle days, it wasgovernments hosting the ANC – itsleaders often resided in middle-classsuburbs, commanding their memberswho were in out-of-the-way camps,often being supported by theinternational community.

The government was silent on the

fact that the xenophobic violencedisplaces blame for socio-economicdeprivation. While African“foreigners” are blamed for some ofthe social ills permeating townshipand informal settlement life, includinghealth, educational and social serviceinfrastructure, the ANC governmentis apportioned less of the blame.

The middle class, generally whitecitizens specifically, and the rulingclass obviously, benefit from blamedisplacement. It is foreigners’ shopsthat go shutters-up, not the JSE oruMhlanga’s Gateway Mall.

Middle-class life in South Africacontinued unaffected, while theunderclasses were fighting it out,except that their underpaidZimbabwean waiters and gardenersmight be on the run.

The ruling class obviously suffersbeing shamed by fellow Africangovernments and embarrassed bysocial media rumours that everybodyfrom Boko Haram to Renamo’sAfonso Dhlakama are set to launchrescue missions.

The ANC government obviouslydoes not “design” its policy of openborders with a view to gettingpaperless foreigners to come and helpshare blame for delivery deficits. But itis certainly one of the de facto effectsof the policy of limited control ofimmigration from African countries.

Zuma noted that “we cannot acceptthat when there are challenges, wethen use violence, particularly to ourbrothers and sisters from thecontinent”. ANC treasurer-generalZweli Mkhize reminded SouthAfricans “we are all children ofAfrica”. The thought lingered thathad the 2008 perpetrators beenarrested and charged, the xenophobialabel would not have been sticking sowell. The soothing words would havehad gravitas.

By all appearances, thegovernment lacks the will to reversethe influx of foreign citizens. Asmuch as its management is out ofcontrol, the problem is likely to havebecome irreversible.

From a policy perspective, thevexing question is, why does South

Africa maintain open borders tocitizens from Africa? Is it selectiveenforcement of both border andimmigration control and lawenforcement? Is it lack of capacityand ineptitude?

Foreigners get absorbed into thenational social-services network whilethey trade, operate small businessesor, on the darker side of life andalongside many South Africancounterparts, thrive on crime.

There is a lumpen-proletariatunderworld in which life is cheap,and xenophobia is but one expressionof the laws of that world.

The government has lost authorityover vast tracts of South Africa, overthe underworld where xenophobia,looting and parading mobs rule.

The small miracle of the week isthat concerted action led to theviolence and looting being subdued.

This week’s xenophobia was acase of two-sided lawlessness:foreigners unofficially entering anddrawing on South African socialinfrastructure plus lawlessness interms of seeking real or imaginedrevenge, looting and killing by aminority substantial enough to earnSouth Africa scoundrel status aroundthe world.

Lawfulness still has a modest edgeover lawlessness in South Africa,even if much of society – middleclasses included – often display awonderfully lawless side.

This lawlessness has roots in thefact that the constitution’s Bill ofRights offers no absolute guarantees.It is a “law” that does not dictate.There follows a legal system thatfunctions at some levels, but often notat all, and a system of policing inwhich citizens do not trust their“protection officers”.

South Africa’s tides of Aprilexposed the extent to which its “battlefor economic liberation” unfolds inthe firm grip of global economicmigration, flights of repression andchaos, and a national governmentthat strains to try to gain control.

● Booysen is a professor at the Wits

School of Governance.

Chance to

end the

violence

That’s better

FOR all the talk of late about the

Sharks being a team in crisis, their

latest performance underlines

their commitment to improvement.

While Gary Gold’s men may not have

beaten the Bulls at Kings Park last night,

they showed the surprisingly large

crowd that they had plenty of character

and a willingness to absorb the message

that discipline is non-negotiable in this

game.

After 10 matches without a break, the

Sharks now have a chance to take a well-

earned breather before they embark on a

tough four-match trip to the Antipodes.

The future looks just a little brighter

this morning for the men in black and

white.

THE country’s most influential

traditional leader finds himself at

the centre of the raging xenopho-

bic mess that has shaken our country.

Rightly or wrongly, the blame for the

latest outbreak of xenophobic violence,

hatred and mayhem has been placed on

his shoulders.

King Goodwill Zwelithini carries the

hopes of many of us that peace can be

restored and a healing process begun.

Tomorrow’s imbizo, where the king is

expected to address the issue, is to be wel-

comed. It is an opportunity for him to

speak directly to his subjects, KwaZulu-

Natal, South Africa, and the world.

Our hopes are riding on him to help

bring about an eradication of the despi-

cable violence that has surfaced sporadi-

clly since 2008. We wish him all the

courage and wisdom required to seize

this opportunity to help heal our land.

At times likes these it is tempting to

lose hope and declare, as others have

already done, that our dream of a rain-

bow nation, of peaceful unity in diversi-

ty, and prosperity for all who live here, is

dead.

The truth is that our transition

towards that dream was always going to

be a long and gruelling journey, consider-

ing our dark past.

To achieve South Africa’s dream of a

better future for all, every one of our

leaders and all who live in this land need

to play their part. We hope the Zulu king

plays his.

A good start for all peace-loving people

would be to help avoid anything that

might fan the flames of hatred and vio-

lence. Let us all do what we can to help

restore peace, heal the wounds and find

lasting solutions.

EDITORAakash Bramdeo

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SUNDAYTRIBUNE

TRIBUNE TEAM

South Africa, we are better than this

China iswatchingviolenceWHEN the history of

post-apartheid SouthAfrica is written, the

past week will go down as achapter we’d probably prefer toblot out. But can we afford to?

History can’t be sugar-coated.It must reflect everything – thegood, the bad and the ugly. Andthe orgy of violence, hatred,looting and anger targetingforeign nationals must go downas one of the low points of ournascent democracy.

Xenophobic violence is notnew to South Africa. It hashappened before. We are wellaware that any kind of mobviolence is volatile andunpredictable and can spread likewildfire if not contained early.The question we have to ask is:have we learnt any meaningfullessons from the past?

Clearly not. Governmentleaders did not appear to haveany clear strategy on how tocontain the wanton violence andchaos.

South Africa’s image in Africaand the rest of the world has beentarnished by this ugly episode.

Our leaders proudly tell theworld South Africa is open forbusiness. But who in Africa isgoing to take this invitationseriously when we treatforeigners in our country sobadly?

What is needed in the shortterm is an immediate end to theviolence and hatred on ourstreets; humanitarian assistancefor the hundreds of families whohave been displaced; and aconcrete and meaningful strategyto create a climate conducive toreintegrating foreigners into thecommunities they have lived in.

And that’s only the start.South Africa also faces theenormous task of mendingrelations with its Africanneighbours.

As economist RichardDowning has warned: “An attackon foreign nationals is an attackon the economy because they addto the economic value chain ofour country. Once they leaveunder the current circumstances,they will certainly not have much good to say about SouthAfrica.”

South Africa cannot afford abacklash that would seeretaliation against SouthAfricans living elsewhere on thecontinent or doing business there.

And has anyone stopped for amoment to consider what thepossible repercussions would beif this violence were to spread toChinese-owned businesses?

We are talking here about ourrelations with the largestdeveloping country in the world,our largest trading partner andour partner in Brics.

Does anyone seriously believeChina is going to fold its armsand look the other way?

No, South Africa cannot affordto lose good friends, and tradingpartners. After all, ours is thecountry that brought hope to theworld, isn’t it?

dennis.pather@telkomsa.net

TONGUE

CHEEK&

DennisPather

Tribunenews@inl.co.za

SundayTribune

@SundayTribuneSA

MYViewSusan

Booysen

MYViewAngelJones

Xenophobia: a conundrum of hate