Tag: xenophobic attacks

South Africans, explain your unforgivable actions

A foreign national walks with his children after clashes broke out between a group of locals and police on April 14 2015 in Durban. Hundreds of people have been displaced and forced to flee their homes this week. (Pic: AFP)
A foreign national walks with his children after clashes broke out between a group of locals and police on April 14 2015 in Durban. Hundreds of people have been displaced and forced to flee their homes. (Pic: AFP)

This week, media screens have flashed images of black South Africans executing violent acts on other blacks who are not South Africans. I have seen people petrol bombed in their shops. I have seen images of bloodied heads and faces. I have seen images of angry mobs walking through the streets, mpangas and other weapons in tow, ready to lash out at any foreigner. But more so the black foreigner.

These people have come to South Africa for a number of reasons – school, work, business, economic opportunity, refuge. They came to South Africa to live their lives, but are now being punished for making such a decision.

It’s black on black crime like we’ve never seen before. Actually, we’ve seen this before. In 2008, 2011, oh, 2014 and 2015. It happens year after year in South Africa with no end to this horrific attitude in sight.

It appears that black South Africans are angry because other Africans have come to South Africa to take away opportunities that rightfully ‘belong’ to them. This latest upsurge in violence is as a result of King Goodwill Zwelithini’s comments that foreigners must go back to their homelands. Of course, the Zulu king has denied it, claiming his comments have been distorted but the damage has been done, and one cannot deny that even if his comments have been taken wrongly, there is an amount of anti-foreign sentiment there.

Why? Why can a country like South Africa resort to these awful acts? In apartheid days, black South Africans were harboured in many African countries – Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya. All the countries rallied together, sometimes at the peril of their own stability, to ensure South Africa’s freedom. Lives were lost in South Africa, fighting apartheid. Lives were lost outside of South Africa, too. And yet, these people, who have their political freedom because of us, are now beating and battering us as though none of that happened, but also as though it’s okay to treat humans like that. Black South Africans are attacking foreigners, burning their homes and businesses to make a point. And their point is this:

You are taking over our country.

You are taking our jobs.

You are taking what should be ours.

South Africans have found themselves competing with foreign nationals on a number of fronts and with the history of marginalisation, perhaps it was all too much. The government wasn’t protecting their jobs, houses or opportunities but bringing in even more foreigners. They took matters into their own hands. Regardless, it’s shocking. And I don’t understand it.

What I do know is this should not be accepted. Governments are not taking a large enough stand against xenophobic attacks against their nationals, probably because the region depends so heavily on South African goods and investment that boycotting SA investments and products would cripple their own economies.

These are human rights violations on a grand scale and I would like to see South Africa penalised for this. I would also like to see the foreigners repatriated to their own countries. Get out. Malawi has begun bussing its people back to Nyasaland. Good. I hope they stay home.

Next should be Zambia, or Zimbabwe. And let all other African countries follow suit. Then we’ll see who’s left in South Africa. We’ll see how well their economy would run, how well their services will be managed and delivered.

And then we’ll see who will be targeted next.

Because it seems to me, these are just angry people who have the residues of apartheid left in their souls and cannot be freed from that grip.

But they don’t see it.

Mali Kambandu-Nkhoma is a writer living and working in Lusaka, Zambia. She writes on development issues, and creatively on films.  She blogs at malikambandu.wordpress.com

Xenophobia in SA: Attacking each other won’t resolve our economic challenges  

Foreign nationals gesture after clashes broke out between a group of locals and police in Durban on April 14 2015 in ongoing violence against foreign nationals in the city. (Pic: AFP)
Foreign nationals gesture after clashes broke out between a group of locals and police in Durban on April 14 2015 in ongoing violence against foreign nationals in the city. (Pic: AFP)

In 2008 in Gauteng, fellow brothers and sisters from the continent were injured and killed in violent xenophobic attacks. In January this year, violence broke out between foreign nationals and locals in Alexandra after a Somali shop owner shot and killed a 14-year-old who tried to rob his shop. Looting followed. It then spread to Diepsloot and the West Rand. This week, xenophobic violence erupted in Kwa Zulu Natal and Johannesburg, leaving at least six people dead and displacing thousands.

We must never condone any form of violence. We must never celebrate when a fellow human being is killed or attacked simply because they are of a different nationality.

As Africans we need to ask ourselves why there is no peace and stability on the continent. Why is it that we as Africans are not benefiting from our own resources? South Africa is a young democracy and a lot still needs to be as we build a prosperous country with equal opportunities for all citizens. Many of our brothers and sisters from across the continent come to South Africa due to socioeconomic reasons, and seek to find a better life for themselves. Although all African countries are politically independent, many are still not economically independent.

While the ANC-led government has made significant achievements post-1994, South Africa is still not where it needs to be in terms of dealing with unemployment and poverty. One hopes that at the African Union summit due to be held in South Africa in June, our heads of states will have frank, robust, and constructive engagements on the economy of the continent and how to work together to fight our economic challenges. Migration needs to be looked from a very sober point of view that will help us to take the continent forward and guarantee peace and stability.

African people must never fight each other for economic space. Economic freedom is needed in the continent. This will reduce migration caused by poverty and political instability on the continent.

It is a big concern that African countries are unable to fully fund the AU’s budget. A situation where the West funds more than 70% of it is untenable. We get crumbs from our own resources and we are still divided according to who colonised us. Let us all reflect on why the AU budget is funded by the West when we have our own heads of states. To quote the great Thomas Sankara, “He who feeds you, controls you.” We have seen in the past how the West dictates how the AU budget must be used and for what programmes. We need the political will from our leaders to make sure that Africa is economically liberated. We need to get to the root cause of our problems and find lasting solutions that will make a difference to the people of this continent.

Attacks on each other will not resolve the economic challenges we are facing as Africans. Our leaders must work together in making sure that poverty is eliminated, and that we build a strong continent. Co-operation with other continents is important, but it must be on our terms in order to benefit the people of this continent and take us forward as Africans.

Rebone Tau is a former national task team member of the ANC Youth League and former chairperson of its international relations subcommittee. She writes in her personal capacity.