This article was written at the height of the Xenophobic Attacks that occurred in South Africa. However, I forgot to publish. It maybe stale now but I reckon it still has some valuable points of reflection.
Do South Africans really dislike
foreigners? Are they intolerant to foreigners? Is the patience of South
Africans with foreigners being pushed to the age? Today, the African continent is
watching with jolt the on-goings in a country majority sacrificed to have
liberated from the pangs and wrenches of brutal minority white rule. What has sparked off this carousel of this
indifference and in some cases brutal slayings of foreigners in one of Africa’s
most supposed promising democracy and economy? Are we as outside observers
being melodramatic in the views we hold towards some South Africans regarding
this matter? From the outset, it is important to undertake a profound
reflection on these attacks and not to haste condemnation of South Africans.
Obviously, these attacks are not
a generic feature but isolated and therefore, the actions of a minority should
not be used to stereotype over fifty million South Africans. While at this,
according to the World Atlas Publication, South African is second most visited
African country after Morocco. In fact, it is not only visited but the most
migrated to by varied nationalities of most African countries. In fact, a team
of academics at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg produced a set
of statistics that estimated that the overall foreign population in South
Africa ranged from 1.6 to 2 million, or 3 to 4 percent of the total population.
They also reported that there were between 1 and 1.5 million legal and illegal
Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa. All these immigrants are competing for
jobs and decent livelihood with the citizens.
This migration is definitely
opportunity-for-a-better-life led. But do these migrants attain the rosy
quality of life they dream of? Sometimes, these opportunities that most African
nationals trail in the supposed land of opportunity are faux as majority of the
immigrants end up engaging in illegal activities to make ends meet while
portraying a facade of a rosy picture to their countries of origin. In most
cases, these foreigners involuntarily take up jobs that they would never take
up their countries of origin. While the above point is not the crux of this
discourse, it is important for African countries to take a deep contemplation
on the possible panacea to the problem South Africa faces today. In fact, one
can be quick to clinch that the problem of foreign immigrants looking for a
better life in South Africa other than their own countries places the rest of
African countries on the spotlight. Are other African countries failing their
citizens for them to lose confidence in their own Governments and opt to go try
their luck in South Africa? That is an assertion that can be reflected on by
individual bystanders.
In comparative terms, Zambia has
seen an influx of Chinese nationals engaging in occupations that indigenous
nationals are not skill-short off. It is not a secret that some Chinese
nationals have been engaging blue-collar work, sale of vegetables and chickens
just to mention but a few. Ordinarily, these are jobs expected to be undertaken
by Zambians. While they engage in these activities, some Zambians have raised trepidation
that their jobs are being stolen. In a number of cases, the Government has
acted to remedy such situations. Without
playing the fiend’s advocate, can this observation be linked to the same cries
the ordinary South Africans are making? It is not a secret that employment
opportunities world over are shrinking owing to a number of factors such as
mechanization of industry and attenuation of economic activity. It would be
wrong for any observer of this growing problem of isolated anti-foreigner
skirmishes to conclude that South Africans are indifferent to foreigners. Some observers have even gone to the extent
of raising doubts on whether the much extolled national value of ‘Ubuntu’ that aided
South Africa to overcome the post-Apartheid violent feelings and paved way for
truth and reconciliation. It is not in
this author’s ambit to conclude whether the post-apartheid political transition
in South Africa did not fully address the political economic question, and
hence the xenophobic violence which is a symbolic expression of a deeper resentment
against an unjust and unequal economic growth coupled with a wave of violent
crimes.
While the world is now a global
village, one cannot deny the fact that globalization has triggered
protectionism at various strata of human endeavor for countries to remain
afloat and relevant in this competitive epoch. The cry of the ordinary South
African regarding jobs is a genuine one except the manner in which it is being
expressed of using violence as a means to gain attention. This problem requires
concerted efforts to resolve and regional blocks such as Southern African
Development Community (SADC) should take keen interest in this smoldering
problem before it hits a tailspin. The block whose countries are used a transit
points to South Africa by migrants coming from the northern part of the
continent should collaborate towards stamping out illegal immigration.
However, acts of violence by
some sullen individuals in South Africa who appear not to have the propensity
to air their grievances with sobriety should be condemned in the strongest
possible terms.
