Xenophobia Plagues South Africa
Extremely violent attacks on foreigners in South Africa in the last days have stirred the entire South African media and of course… blogs. Individual bloggers question whether the government is right to call these attacks “xenophobic”, and criticize the media for being too event-driven to address the causes behind the violence.
Here's a round up of what some South African bloggers are saying:
Don Edwards, blogging from Johannesburg at Insights and Rants, writes:
Political correctness has now gone too far: it's all very well talking about Xenophobia and anarchy, but why is the government so scared of calling the rioting what it is: racism!?
These people are being killed because they are “foreigners”, and therefore we call it Xenophobia, only because it is politically incorrect to call it racism. Normally Mr Mbeki is quick to use the race card, but I suppose because there are no whites involved he can't see it for what it is. What an idiot! People are suffering and dying while the leadership dithers and keeps silent.
If they do nothing for much longer then we can refer to the process as “ethnic cleansing”, another traditional SA sport.
In The News, a South African-based all-Africa group blog, discusses the effect of these attacks on South Africa's 2010 hopes:
Has anyone given much thought about how the current xenophobia attacks in townships in South Africa could affect South Africa’s preparations for the FIFA World Cup in 2010? The whole world is seeing pictures and videos of the attacks and it can not paint a pretty picture at all. Crime has always been a huge issue about South Africa hosting the world cup but the world was assured that everything possible would be done so that crime does not affect this world event in 2010. Now with the scenes being beamed across the world from townships in Johannesburg, one wonders why South Africa can not stop this current crime sweeping across them.
Fine, the xenophobia attacks are happening in the townships where the poor are so that should not affect 2010 right? Wrong. Any form of crime in South Africa is a negative to how the world portrays South Africa be it crime in the townships or crime in the leafy suburbs. Crime is a national issue in South Africa and just because it is happening in the townships does not mean it should be ignored.
The government has to act and act quickly to find a solution to these xenophobia attacks. There have been calls for there to be more police deployed to stop these attacks but the police say they do not have enough resources to deploy more people than they already have. There have been calls for the South Africa army to step in and help or take over from the police. South Africa is not at war with anyone so the army is available to assist in times like this. The fear is that these attacks could escalate and get out of control. The government has an opportunity to act now and try stop these attacks. Or do they want to wait until it really gets out of hand before they act? This reminds me of the electricity situation. The government had time to act and resolve the crisis long ago, but did nothing about it. Instead they are now fighting against something they could have prevented. Don’t they just learn from past mistakes?
“No human being deserves to be treated like that,” writes Charmed at My Digital Life:
I admit I'm not one to get all worked up about political issues or how incompetent our government is, but I certainly think the xenophobic attacks are uncalled for. No human being deserves to be treated that way.
I agree with OS – it all comes down to those who lack mentality. With that kind of behaviour its no surprise that the Zimbabweans or Mozambicans or whoever are getting employed here.
My sister employs a Zimbabwean girl as her domestic worker and she's so well spoken, friendly, civilized.. unlike some South Africans I've come across with loads of attitude and think the world still owes them since apartheid.
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
We'd see the day when nobody died
Chorus from If Everyone Cared by Nickelback
Herman, a blogger at Contraflow, looks at the larger picture:
The media's reporting of these events has as usual been largely event-driven, with little attempt yet to understand them as part of larger socio-economic circumstances and policies (although there has been some good analyses, for instance here and here). While front pages such as the one posted here (the Cape Town-based newspaper Cape Times, owned by the Independent group) raise familiar questions regarding the ethics of the representation of violent acts, there is also an imperative for the media to analyse these events holistically, as part of the precarious living conditions of the poor in the country and political response they demand. Journalism should be at its best when it defends human dignity and respect for life. This is such a time.
Sokari sees the violence as an indication of South Africa's fragility
The media and the government are naming the violence as xenophobia but the reality is that people have reached boiling point after 14 years of dashed hopes and have now turned on the most vulnerable in their communities, refugees, and foreigners to vent their frustration. This in no way justifies the violence but does go some way to explain the fragility of the country.
Nicole does not believe the atrocities committed by her fellow citizens who should be ubuntu experts:
Over the past few weeks, xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans, Malawians, Zambians, Ugandans, Rwandans, Burundians, Mozambicans, and many other African illegal (and legal!) migrants who are living near Johannesburg on the East Rand, have been on the increase.
It blows me away that my fellow countrymen and women can with one breath decry the atrocities in Zimbabwe, and with the next perpetrate their own. It blows me away that people who should be experts at ubuntu can demonstrate anything but. It blows me away that a problem I considered to be purely a first-world problem exists on my own doorstep (as it were…. Jo'burg is a good 1400kms or 870 miles). It blows me away that in this rainbow nation of ours, where thousands have fought, shed blood and died for the right for us to treat each other with the respect due another human being, for the right to express our equality, my fellow countrymen and women would perpetrate such hate crimes.
And an angry post from ZimStallion
Alright, jokes aside. This is something that REALLY pisses me off.
Xenophobia, for those that have lived under a rock their entire life, is the jealous hatred of foreigners living in one's country…
Q: Why have so many Zimbabweans desperately flooded into South Africa?
A: Because there is a shithead President in Zimbabwe who beats the living daylights out of them for no good reason.Q: Why is there a shithead President in Zimbabwe?
A: Because there is also a shithead President in South Africa, who stops the rest of the world from putting a bullet through his head.Q: Why do shithead South African citizens take it out on poor innocent Zimbabwean refugees?
A: Because shithead South Africans are lazy, and are used to having things handed to them on a plate, whereas a Zimbabwean will actually work for something. This is the reason a Zimbabwean is chosen for a job over Joe South African.Christ, South Africa, I'll explain this as simply as possible so that you get it into your thick skulls: Get your shithead President to stop shielding the shithead Zimbabwean President, and we will ALL fuck off back home in a split-second. Then you can have your shitty jobs and shitty country back. Because if we had a choice, we wouldn't be here.
From Jacaranda FM blog:
Foreign nationals in Alexandra, North of Jo’burg, are begging police to deport them back to their home countries following the recent outbreak of Xenophobia. According to Alexandra police, about a thousand refugees are being housed in tents at the police station whilst several organizations have donated blankets, food and other necessities.
And finally… Dispatch Now
DispatchOnline has set up a dedicated blog for readers to share their experiences of xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance. Share your views and stories at http://blogs.dispatch.co.za/surviving
Across all media and social media channels, the xenophobic attacks have been condemned, unfortunately the government seems to be dragging it's feet again and mumbling about semantics instead of doing something concrete about the situation.
46 comments
Stop lying about what is happening in South Africa. You polititians and reporters call it Xenophobia. Xenophobia means “Irrational fear of foreigners or strangers”. What is happening is downright Genocide which means ” Killing of a racial or cultural group, race murder, racial extermination”. South Africans are killing foreigners. They don’t fear them, they hate them and want to destroy them. Why because the foreigners have a better education. They didn’t burn their schools and cause mayhem. Alot of foreigners have been brought up in Dictator countries, but they came to South Africa for a better life bringing their skills. The blacks in South Africa must stop begging and blaming Apartheid. Where do you think Germany or Russian would be today if they kept on blaming Hitler and Stalin? Get your priorities right and start working, and stop putting your palms out for hand outs!
I posted comments and an article written back in 1998 on Xenophobia in South Africa yesterday and it has not been published. I can only conclude that the moderators of this forum are involved in censorship of views that may be contrary to theirs on the issue at hand. Otherwise, they would not have published several comments after mine some of which do not even address the issue.
“PROHIBITED PERSONS”
Abuse of Undocumented Migrants, Asylum-Seekers, and Refugees
in South Africa
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Ave, 34th Fl.
New York, NY 10118-3299
Tel: (212) 290-4700
Fax: (212) 736-1300
E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org
Web: http://www.hrw.org
CONTENTS
* I. SUMMARY
* II. RECOMMENDATIONS
o Recommendations to the Government of South Africa
o Recommendations to the State Institutions Supporting Constitutional Democracy
o Recommendations to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
o Recommendations to the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
* III. INTRODUCTION
o Migration to South Africa Today
o Brief History of Migration to South Africa
+ Labor Migration to South Africa
+ The Destabilization of the Frontline States by the Apartheid Regime
+ The Repatriation of Mozambican Refugees
+ The SADC Amnesty
* IV. THE TREATMENT OF UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS IN SOUTH AFRICA
o Labor Exploitation
o Abuses During the Arrest Process o Conditions of Detention
o Unlawful Long-term Detention of Undocumented Migrants
o The Deportation Process: The Train to Mozambique
* V. THE TREATMENT OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN SOUTH AFRICA
o Asylum-Seekers in Detention
o Corruption in the Asylum Process
o Arbitrary, Uninformed Decisions
o Rubber-Stamp Appeals Process
o Police Abuse of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers
* VI. XENOPHOBIA AND ATTACKS AGAINST MIGRANTS
o Xenophobic Statements by Officials
o Attacks Against Foreign Hawkers
o The Alexandra Riots against Foreigners
* VII. THE STALLED POLICY DEBATE
* Acknowledgments
* Appendix A: South Africa’s Obligations under International and Domestic Law
* Appendix B: Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa
* Appendix C: Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals Who Are Not Nationals of the Country in Which They Live
* Appendix D: International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
I. SUMMARY
Although South Africa, since the first democratic elections in 1994, has made remarkable progress towards establishing a free and democratic society based on respect for the human rights of its own citizens, foreigners have largely failed to benefit from these developments and remain subject to serious abuse. Anti-foreigner feelings have also increased alarmingly. Politicians, the press, and the South African public commonly blame foreigners for exacerbating social problems such as rising crime, unemployment, or even the spread of diseases, and undocumented migrants have been subject to abuse by officials from the Department of Home Affairs, the police, and the army, as well as by the general public. In general, public attention has been focused on the allegedly socio-economic impact of migrants within South Africa, despite the absence of evidence to confirm these. In the process, attention has been diverted from the suffering and exploitation experienced by aliens as a result of official policies and xenophobic attitudes. This report seeks to document the experiences of foreigners in South Africa, including undocumented migrants, legal residents, asylum-seekers, and refugees, in order to add their voices to the debate on migration in South Africa. Human suffering should not be ignored in a country that only recently emerged from a system that degraded basic human rights and human dignity.(1)
[(1) 1. In this report, we use the term “undocumented migrants” to refer to all persons who entered South Africa without passing through formal border control procedures. The South African authorities normally refer to such people as “illegal aliens,” a term Human Rights Watch considers objectionable because of the way it dehumanizes those with irregular immigration status.]
Human Rights Watch conducted an investigation of the treatment of undocumented migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees in South Africa in 1996 and 1997. During the course of our missions, we visited several areas of the country, including Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Northern Province and Mpumalanga border regions with Mozambique, and Cape Town. We interviewed foreign farm workers, migrants in detention, asylum-seekers, refugees, hawkers, repatriated Mozambicans, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), as well as officials from the Department of Home Affairs, the South African Police Service, the Department of Correctional Services, the South African National Defence Force, and the Mozambican Department of Labor. We visited a number of detention facilities, including the private Lindela detention facility in Krugersdorp; Pollsmoor, Pretoria Central, Johannesburg Central (Diepkloof), and Modderbee prisons; and a number of police stations. Our findings indicate pervasive and widespread abuse of migrants in South Africa.
Abuses Against Undocumented Migrants in South Africa
The South African economy, especially its farming, mining, security, and construction sectors, relies heavily on the cheap and easily exploitable labor of undocumented migrants, mostly from Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland. Undocumented laborers on farms work for a pittance, on average about 5 rands [U.S. $1 at an exchange rate of five rands for one U.S. dollar] per day. Because of the illegal immigration status of their workers, farmers can exercise tremendous power over them. Human Rights Watch interviewed a number of child laborers, some as young as fourteen, and our research indicates that physical abuse of farm workers is common. Police rarely investigate or prosecute farmers for abuses, and in some instances contribute to the exploitation of farm workers by deporting them without pay on the request of farmers who have employed them. In one instance, Human Rights Watch interviewed three young farm laborers who described how they had been kept on a white-owned farm against their will, without any accommodation, and were regularly beaten to make them work harder. After two weeks, they were finally paid at the rate of 5 rand [U.S. $1] per day, only to have their money stolen by the foreman who then called the police to have the young laborers deported.
South Africa has been deporting an increasing number of migrants each year since 1994, and reaching close to 200,000 people in 1997. Suspected undocumented migrants are identified by the authorities through unreliable means such as complexion, accent, or inoculation marks. We documented cases of persons who claimed they were arrested for being “too black,” having a foreign name, or in one case, walking “like a Mozambican.” Many of those arrested–up to twenty percent of the total in some areas by our calculation–are actually South African citizens or lawful residents, who often have to spend several days in detention while attempting to convince officials of their legitimate status.
Assault and theft by officials during the arrest process seems disturbingly common. We interviewed several persons who claimed to have been beaten and robbed of valuables by members of the army or police and obtained evidence of several other such cases. In some urban areas, especially Johannesburg, police often suggested a “fine” or a bribe as an alternative to arrest and deportation. One person told Human Rights Watch how the police had volunteered to drive him to a bank automated teller machine (ATM) to withdraw the money for a bribe, while two others told us how they were forced to pay for a beer drinking party and to give the arresting officers additional “beer money” before being released.
After arrest, suspected undocumented migrants are brought to a place of detention where they often wait for long periods before being deported. Human Rights Watch interviewed some people who had been unlawfully in detention for more than four months and documented a case in which a suspected undocumented migrant had been detained for more than a year. Migrants awaiting deportation are held at a private detention facility called Lindela, as well as at prisons, police stations, and army bases. Conditions of detention are usually far below internationally accepted minimum standards. Places of detention are often severely overcrowded, meals are insufficient, bedding was dirty and vermin-ridden, and detainees did not always have regular access to washing facilities. At Pollsmoor prison, migrants in detention often share cells with criminal suspects and are frequently robbed of their possessions and clothes by these criminal suspects.
At the private Lindela facility near Johannesburg, operated on behalf of the Department of Home Affairs by the Dyambu Trust, Human Rights Watch found numerous serious human rights abuses. Most troubling, we interviewed and photographed more than ten people who claimed to have been beaten by security personnel in three separate incidents in the week prior to our visit, and we obtained medical reports documenting their injuries. A young man from Lesotho had been brutally beaten over a period of several hours after complaining to security guards about the theft of his music tapes by security personnel. Although the Lindela management was aware of some of these incidents, no internal investigation appeared to have been instituted prior to our request for an investigation. The number of beds at Lindela was significantly lower than the average number of persons detained at the facility. Detainees also described many instances of corruption involving officials of the Department of Home Affairs at the facility and complained to Human Rights Watch about the quality of the food, the lack of phone access, and rude and violent behavior by the guards.
Repatriation to their home country is the final chapter in the journey of most arrested undocumented migrants. In some areas, deportees were not allowed to gather their often substantial belongings before being deported, thus virtually guaranteeing that they would return again to South Africa. Several people told Human Rights Watch about their experiences on the twelve-hour train ride to Mozambique, where they were verbally and physically abused by police guards, and where a substantial bribe often provided a final opportunity to escape deportation by being allowed to jump from the moving train.
Abuses Against Asylum-Seekers and Refugees
South Africa only began to abide formally by international refugee law after signing a Basic Agreement with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1993. South Africa became a party to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and United Nations (U.N.) refugee conventions in 1995 and 1996, respectively. The treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers in South Africa does not fully comply with international refugee law. There is no legislation implementing the South African government’s obligations under these documents, so all refugee-handling procedures are governed by internal regulations of the Department of Home Affairs, leaving ample room for confusion and abuse of process. Human Rights Watch interviewed several asylum-seekers who had been in detention for up to three weeks at police stations, waiting for officials from the Department of Home Affairs to interview them. We discovered extensive corruption in the refugee determination process, with Home Affairs officials demanding bribes for the scheduling of interviews and for the granting of permits.
In addition to the impact of pervasive bribery and extortion, the refugee determination process is flawed in several respects. First, officials often make arbitrary, uninformed decisions that are inconsistent with the requirements of the U.N. and OAU conventions and guidelines for their implementation. Asylum-seekers from a number of African countries, including Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Malawi, appear to have their asylum applications turned down as a matter of course. Refugee applications are determined by a panel which does not itself hear the applicants. Until recently, applicants denied asylum were not furnished with reasons for the denial, a practice which has now been rectified. Denied asylum-seekers can only appeal to a one-person appeal board which appears not to provide a genuine review of the case.
Xenophobia and Abuse of Foreigners
In general, South Africa’s public culture has become increasingly xenophobic, and politicians often make unsubstantiated and inflammatory statements that the “deluge” of migrants is responsible for the current crime wave, rising unemployment, or even the spread of diseases. As the unfounded perception that migrants are responsible for a variety of social ills grows, migrants have increasingly become the target of abuse at the hands of South African citizens, as well as members of the police, the army, and the Department of Home Affairs. Refugees and asylum-seekers with distinctive features from far-away countries are especially targeted for abuse.
Human Rights Watch interviewed a number of refugees and asylum-seekers who claimed to have been assaulted by police. In one case, a Ugandan refugee told us how she had been arrested and violently thrown into a police van, then subjected to vile language and rough handling as she was transferred from one police station in Cape Town to the other. A Nigerian refugee hawker in Cape Town showed us his wounds from a recent scuffle with the police, in which he was manhandled and verbally abused for insisting that a police officer who had asked him for his papers identify himself first.
At least one asylum-seeker, Jean-Pierre Kanyangwa of Burundi, has died after apparently being beaten in police custody. Kanyangwa was arrested by police in Cape Town at about 11 a.m. on June 2, 1997, and was brought to the Department of Home Affairs at about 2 p.m. the same day in a bad condition. He was suffering from stomach pains, had urinated in his pants, and reportedly told a fellow Burundian that he had been beaten by the police. The police sergeant who brought Kanyangwa to the offices of the Department of Home Affairs refused to take him to the hospital, saying it was now a refugee problem, and left. Kanyangwa died from a ruptured spleen on his way to the hospital. A murder docket into the case has been opened.
Foreign hawkers, often asylum applicants with temporary residence permits, have repeatedly been the targets of violent protests and other forms of intimidation as local hawkers attempt to “clean the street of foreigners.” During repeated violent protests in Johannesburg, South African traders and ordinary criminals have brutally beaten foreign hawkers, and stolen their goods. Hawkers interviewed by Human Rights Watch who were the targets of such abuse universally complained to us that the police had done little or nothing in response to their complaints. In many areas around Johannesburg, such as Kempton Park and Germiston, foreign hawkers have had to abandon their trade after repeated attacks and looting incidents in which the police failed in their duty under both international and domestic law to protect all persons. Human Rights Watch interviewed members of a large community of Somali asylum-seekers who had been forced to abandon their trade and who told Human Rights Watch that they now never left their overcrowded and impoverished compound unless they were in a large group, in order to protect themselves from attacks by hostile “locals.”
A xenophobic climate in South Africa has resulted in increased harassment of migrants. Many people interviewed by Human Rights Watch described how they had been verbally abused by South Africans, and told to “go home.” In some cases, verbal abuse led to physical attacks. In the township of Alexandra near Johannesburg, for example, Malawian, Zimbabwean and Mozambican immigrants 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. Similar but less extensive incidents continue to occur regularly in South Africa, and foreigners have received little protection from the police and other institutions.
The Stalled Policy Debate
The Aliens Control Act which currently governs all aspects of migrants control in South Africa is an archaic piece of apartheid legislation, at odds with internationally accepted human rights norms and the South African constitution. South Africa still remains without legislation specifically covering refugee determination procedures. In order to remedy these deficiencies, the government appointed a task group to draft a “Green Paper” policy document as a first step in drafting new legislation.
Many of the recommendations contained in the ensuing Green Paper on International Migration, finalized in May 1997, would help remedy the institutional and legislative deficiencies which are partly responsible for the human rights abuses discussed in this report. However, it appears that the reform process has stalled, and with the 1999 general elections appearing on the political horizon in South Africa, the window for migration and refugee legislative reform is rapidly closing. Without legislative reform, it will be difficult to address the problems and abuses existing under the current system, as many of these problems and abuses stem from fundamental deficiencies in the current legislation. In the meantime, without reform, Human Rights Watch fears that foreigners in South Africa will continue to suffer major and systematic human rights abuses.
************************************************************
Being a South African myself i felt that i couldn’t step aside and watch my country being ripped into pieces by the comments of people who don’t even know anything about it. Most people rely on the media for information and don’t actually know the truth. Since the ANC came to power there has been so many people who flooded our streets from all over the world looking for a better life, this influx of foreigners has put a strain on our resources and it has been the real cause of the rise in crime. I know for a fact that most people that do crime there are not South africans
Why is it that all Africans want to run to this country? Why should we bear the burdens of these poor countries? There’s just so much that we had to deal with in a short space of time.We never even tasted that freedom it was more like being passed from one master to the other but still being a slave anyway. I believe that SA has been far too kind to all the immigrants. If maybe we did the same as Engand and America in controlling all the borders and making sure we limit the numbers of the people that come into our country it would have been better. Believe it or not being in England as an African is not easy, some people come here and they are refused entry at the airport they don’t even give you a chance to step into their land. Some of these people are Zimbabweans who have worked hard in SA to get money for tickets to come to UK but they are turned away at the airport. In SA we have so many whites who are still living large there, but us we are being treated as nobody’s in UK. It makes me wonder how on earth would any other country be able to face the challenges faced by SA. The ZIMBABWE issue has been a final blow and now its more like two countries living in one and that sure is a recipe fo dissaster
I will say that at this stage; pointing fingers is not the way to resolve this issue. The government must just find a way to curb these issues and look for a long term solution so that it doesnt occur all over again.
the influx of foreigners is not controlled and this must be addressed now.
there are lots of foreigners in the UK and the US that contibute positively in the economy due to proper planning and manegement. The same also occurs here but the ones that are causing discord seem to outway the legal ones contributing to the economy.
South Africa is still a young democracy and learning but we can as well learn from how others who have been there do things or have prevented such situations over the years.
no country is an island and that is why we have laws that regulate the interaction of countries with one another.
Does this prove that whites are more intelligent than blacks at organising themselves (Pof. Watson) as we keep re-affirming this statement made by the professor with our actions.
Arent there whites in the same situation living in this great country as well?
or deos it mean u have to be intelligent and educated to recognise that the next person is also a human who has rights?
we are forgetting what africa repesents.
You have to know where you are coming from to understand and pave way for the trials of today so that you can have control over tommorrow.
The Human Rights Watch article I posted was written back in 1998, precisely 10 yrs ago. It is indeed very telling of what has been going on in South Africa at a smaller scale for a while away from the world’s prying eyes. The recent wave of attacks was not limited to the poor foreigners. Shops and businesses of immigrants were also targeted. The people of South Africa need to understand that immigration is a fact of life for various reasons. South Africans also live in other countries and have businesses in those places. It will be unconscionable to face such attacks while conducting their businesses just because they are foreigners. It is well known that foreigners in any country who do not have any safety net in terms social security do jobs that locals believe to be beneath them. In addition, foreigners tend to be entrepreneurial and start businesses often competing with and in some cases doing better than locals, which generates a lot of envy among locals. The answer has never been in driving the foreigners away as history has shown. Check the history of Ghana sending Nigerians away in the late 60’s, Uganda sending Asians away in the 70’s, and Nigeria sending Ghanaians away in the mid 80’s.
South Africans need to stop expecting their government to hand everything to them. Otherwise, they will be perpetually disappointed. The government of South Africa needs to stop blaming foreigners for everything that is wrong in their country and live up to the responsibilities of the offices to which they have been elected instead of seeing those offices as their tickets to becoming fat cats in the society. They need to deal with crime and prosecute the perpetrators instead of accusing foreigners as being responsible for crime. It is interesting that they never back up their statements with any meaningful data. How many people are in South African prisons and jails for crime? Of those, how many are foreigners?
Obviously most south africans condemn the killing of innocent people.It is as much shocking as it is an outrage.I ve been reading and hearing a lot of insults towards south africans for the past few days.It seems like everybody believes or want to believe that all south africans took part in this killings.Now let’s discuss facts and not perceptions.1)There are illegal immigrants in south africa, more than any other country in the world.The 5 million number is an estimate of the govt 3-4 yrs after the election of the 1st democratic govt in 1994,this was in 1998 during a population census.the 5 million number of illegal immigrants was before the total collapse of zimbabwe and the influx of zimbabwen illegal immigrants we’ ve been seeing since 2000.The real number of illegal immigrants is believed to be around 15 million people.that is 1/3 of the south african population.The only other country that comes close to this number is the USA with approximately 12 million illegal immigrants.Illegals are not only from africa,but from eastern europe and asian countries like bangladesh,pakistan ,china and thailand(most women come for prostitution).2)It is claimed by the media and most people that the illegal immigrants are scapegoats since they are competing with south africans for scarce resources like jobs and housing,let’s analyse that.It is a lie that jobs are not created in south africa,the south african economy has been growing at a rate of 5 % for the past 4-5 yrs,resulting in the creation of jobs,jusr consider the jobs being created by the building of stadia,roads.hotels and transit railway lines fror 2010 world cup.The fact is those jobs are not being taken by south africans,but by illegal immigrants who work for as little as $4 a day and without any other rights ,meaning they are being exploited.For a bussinessman it makes good bussiness sense to maximize your profit,obviously one will hire the cheapest labour available ,since there is no penalty for hiring illegal immigrants in south africa.So illegal immigrants are stealing jobs from poor south africans.There are more zimbabwens hired in south africa than zimbabwe itself.There are 1.2 million zimbabwens legally and formally employed in south africa, a number which is higher than employed people in zimbabwe,not to mention the 2-3 million who are employed illegally.For some of our neighbouring countries 90% of their work force is working in south africa,these are facts and can be verified by visiting any site which deals with statistics.During these past days because of the turmoil some industries did have some financial losses because of workers not showing up,some of the companies claiming that 90% of their work force is constituted of foreigners.I ‘m not reffering to small bussinesses but big industries like mining houses with hundreds of thousands of workers.Fact remains that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs from south africans.The south african govt has built 2-3 million homes since 1994 for poor people ,that means most poor south africans by now should have been given this low-cost homes,which were built for them mind you , not for refugees or any kind off immigrant but for poor south africans.Because of corruption of some officials a lot of these houses are owned by illegal immigrants.There are cases,proven,of foriegners owning up to 15 low-cost houses and renting them out.These are homes which the govt build solely to be awarded to poor south africans.It is said foreigners are accussed of commiting crime,of course they commit crime,not all but a high precentage of them are involved in crime.There are no go areas in parts of johannesburg because everybody knows that this neighbourhood is controlled by nigerian druglords or congolese smugglers etc.Crime did exist in south africa but not at this rate,crimes like drugs(controlled by nigerians)and prostitution(mostly by asian girls)are new to south africa.3)It is said foreigners bring much needed skills and south africa needs skills.Of course south africa is a growing economy and it needs expert people in their respective fields,that is why we have the most liberal immigration laws in the world,check it out if you don’t beleive me,that is why we have 1,2 millon legally employed people from zimbabwe for example.You will be surprised if you check out who are coming to south africa.Most people who come to south africa legally are from the UK, USA and Germany.We south africans consider it an insult to come here illegally when it is so much easy to get a visa.All said we will all agree that the responsible party to bring us to this situation is the Mbeki govt.THe govt should have controlled the influx of immigrants into south africa,but they were afraid of the outcry from african govts.When the then home affairs minister Buthelezi proposed strict and harsh measures to deal with illegal immigration the govt did everything in it’s power to stop the bill from passing in the parliament.It is ironic that the outcry that the ANc govt was trying to avoid from african govts, by not stopping illegal immigration,has backfired and most of its supporters like me are starting to question its loyalty to the country. illegal immigrants have to be chucked out of the country one way or the other.I’m a pan africanist and beleive that the only way for africans to saveguard and benefit from their ernomous natural resources is for them to unite into one country,but until then we south africans are not going to pay for the incompetence of african leaders in creating sound economies in their countries.I read and hear africans saying that what is happening in south africa wanting to chase illegal immigrants out as the most disgraceful thing and the biggest shame in africa.This is the sick mentality of africans who somehow beleive that south africa owes them a living,that they have a right to benefit from south africa’s prosperity.It’s 60 yrs now that africa has been independent and africans in most countries are dying of hunger,of curable diseases in 2008 ,that is the biggest shame of africa.When south africans were fighting a brutal system,most africans were supporting and maintaining dictators who looted their countries.If these africans have so much to say about south africa why don’t they stay in their countries and help those countries to move forward.If they love africa so much why don’t they leave from all those foreign countries and go and help their own people.IF you are malawian doctor for example and you claim to love your people,you would’nt come and work in johannesburg you will go back to your village and help prevent many deaths that are occuring there.At the end of the day africans had 60 yrs to build their countries and they messed things up.We can sit down and discuss the details of that ,but the bottom line is we are a new democracy and we are still trying to recover from more than 350 yrs of oppression.We need some space to fix our problems first .South africa has done a lot for africa,I’ m not sure of the statistics at the moment but i know that since1994 south africa was the biggest investor in africa,creating a lot of jobs and bringing services to the people.one more thing it is widely claimed that during the days of apartheid african countries cared for south african refugees ,that is a blatant lie.Even during the darkest yea rs of apartheid south africans never left south africa in droves .
The last posting is remarkable for its fingerpointing at other Africans for the problems of South Africa. It is exactly reflective of the rhetoric that has sparked and fanned the embers of the violence of the past 2 weeks. It will be interesting to know from what source the author got his figures of immigrants living in South Africa both legally and illegally. Statistics South Africa? Certainly not.
The author exposed his ignorance about Africa and the fact that different countries on the continent achieved independence at different times. He wrote about Africa as if South Africa is not on the African continent. I have witnessed South Africans speaking in such manner in the past and his tone is unmistakably reminiscent of those situations. It appears to me that he is either not familiar with the history of aparthied and what happened during those dark years or he has a malicious intent in posting his piece. Despite the fact that South African political leaders have repeatedly acknowledged the very active and supportive roles played by many African countries during the very trying years of apartheid, here comes someone saying black South Africans never got help. Interesting.
Africans who ventured into South Africa did not go there asking for hand outs from the government. They only want to live, work, and feel fulfilled and secured like every other person i.e. live and let live. It is exactly the same things all immigrants want irrespective of which country they are from or end up in.
It is unclear where the author got the impression that South Africa is the biggest investor nation to the rest of Africa. Obviously, he is wrong. South Africa is the biggest recipient of foreign direct investment in Africa and has Africa’s biggest economy. That does not make it the biggest investor in other African countries.
If the last piece represents the type of response some South Africans have to the events of the recent days in their country, then, I have to conclude that the future looks bleak for other Africans living there whether legally or not.
cry our beloved country.
put our political views aside for a minute and see the human beings for who they are people like you and I,
Looking for a space to belong on this earth.
South Africans God is looking down on you and weeping
there are better ways to sought out differences than resorting to violence and hate. Surely our country has learnt something from our history.
A big thank you to those who have generously donated and gave up there time to help these displaced people.
Hello to all. Why do we have to refer to our people as foreigners at the same time call them our brothers and sisters? What is happening in S.A it’s horrific and it’s wrong to say all South Africans should be held responsible or be ashamed of themselves. It is beyond our control because it has always been an issue for our fellow brothers and sisters to live in our country.
To say Thabo Mbeki is doing nothing about this matter is pretty obvious, we all know the poor man lost power during the ANC conference in Polokwane. There is no reason to point fingers when we all know that those responsible will play it both ways. I hear of many being arrested in certain areas, denied bail when we know very well how corrupt our system is. The people who support the government prior 1994 are laughing their lungs out, sitting back and talking amongst themselves how they’ve longed for a time like this to occur.
How can you blame our fellow brothers and sisters who would do anything for survival unlike waiting for the government to do everything for you, seek employment and not rest until they’ve found a job regardless of what it is be on the wrong? You can’t blame them for poverty, it has always been an issue. If you feel that they are taking your job, why don’t you get up your lazy behind and beat them to it. Home ground advantage – isn’t that what it’s called?????
phew…..
Fyfy*