South Africans ignore appeal, continue attacks on foreigners

South Africans ignore appeal, continue attacks on foreigners

Despite appeals by South African President Jacob Zuma and
other political leaders for calm, violence against foreigners
continued in parts of South Africa on Thursday.

South Africans living and working in other African countries
braced for reprisals on Friday as protests were reported in
Mozambique, Malawi and Nigeria.

At least five people have been killed, thousands displaced and
extensive property destroyed in the latest wave of xenophobic
violence in South Africa, after a March 20 speech in which tribal
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini said foreigners should leave the
country.

As the violence spread from the eastern port city of Durban to
Pietermaritzburg and the inland financial hub of Johannesburg,
Zuma announced the deployment of South African National
Defence Force troops.

He said the SANDF would transfer 350 soldiers to work as
immigration officers at border posts. “Furthermore, the SANDF
has deployed military personnel along the borderline in seven
provinces to prevent border crime activities and illegal border
crossings.”

Most of the targets in South Africa have been Mozambicans,
Malawians, Zimbabweans, Somalis, Congolese and Nigerians. An
April 16 march against xenophobia in Durban, attended by up to
20,000 people, did little to stop the simmering tensions. There
were scuffles when people opposed to foreigners tried to disrupt
the march.

In their speeches in the South African Parliament on April 16,
none of the main political leaders mentioned Zwelithini’s
inflammatory comments, as they fear his influence over the 11
million Zulus in the country could cost them votes at election
time.

However, Corne Mulder, leader of the minuscule Freedom Front
Plus party, criticised Zuma, who is himself a Zulu, for not taking
Zwelithini to task. In addition the South African National Defence
Union on April 16 lodged a complaint with the South African
Human Rights Commission over Zwelithini’s remarks.

In his March 20 address in Pongola in rural KwaZulu-Natal,
Zwelithini said: “We are requesting those who come from outside
to please go back to their countries.”

He said the fact that other African countries that played a role in
South Africa’s struggle for liberation “should not be used as an
excuse to create a situation where foreigners are allowed to
inconvenience locals.”

Zwelithini said that during South Africa’s liberation struggle,
South Africans did not set up businesses in these other
countries. Yet now nationals from these countries were setting
up businesses in South Africa.

This speech touched on a common grievance among poorer
South Africans, who claim foreigners are depriving them of jobs
and business opportunities. For example, on Friday, The Times
newspaper in Johannesburg reported that a man “hunting
foreigners” and stoning cars in Actonville, east of Johannesburg,
said: “These foreigners don’t pay taxes but they have jobs.”

The official South African unemployment rate hovers around 25
percent, rising to 36 percent when the definition is expanded to
include those who have given up looking for work.

However, the unemployment rate in some South African rural
areas can reach 80 percent, especially among the youth.

In his parliamentary speech on Thursday, Zuma said the attacks
on foreigners were “shocking and unacceptable.”

He said no amount of frustration or anger could 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,
especially the respect for human life, human rights, human
dignity and Ubuntu,” he said.

Ubuntu is a South African word for compassion and humanity.
“Our country stands firmly against all intolerances such as
racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism,” the president said.
Zuma extended condolences to the victims’ families and wished
the injured a speedy recovery.
“Any problems or issues of concern to South African citizens
must be resolved peacefully and through dialogue”, he said.
Zuma said South African police had been directed to work “round
the clock to protect both foreign nationals and South African
citizens and to arrest looters and those committing acts of
violence”.
However, while Zuma strongly condemned the attacks, he was
sympathetic to the concerns of South African citizens.
“We reiterate our view that South Africans are generally not
xenophobic. If they were, we would not have such a high number
of foreign nationals who have been successfully integrated into
communities all over our country, in towns, city and villages,” he
said.
Zuma said that while some foreign nationals had been arrested
for various crimes, it was misleading and wrong to label or
regard all foreigners as being involved in crime.
“In addition, not all foreign nationals who reside in our country
are here illegally,” he said.
This and other messages from South African politicians were
seen as contradictory by Ingrid Palmary, associate professor at
the Witwatersrand University African Center for Migration and
Society (ACMS) in Johannesburg.
She said the rhetoric from the South African state was
“unhelpful, overall”.
“What we’ve seen are contradictory messages from government
officials. Sometimes there has been condemnation, but there has
also been support for anti-foreigner sentiment, and sometimes
inaction. What is needed was a decisive message of
condemnation from all sectors of society,” she said.
According to her, the brutality of the attacks shows a failure in
South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy.
“This kind of violence has a long history in South Africa. It shows
the lack of faith that people have in official institutions”.
Lucien van der Walt, professor of sociology at Rhodes University
in Grahamstown in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, said
the language of nationalism and patriotism that often came from
the South African state was problematic.
Sanele Nene, political science lecturer at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, said the state’s response has been badly co-
ordinated.
“It seems like the state didn’t think this would be a problem
while it has been brewing for some time,” Nene told the Mail &
Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg.
South African analysts have been debating whether the latest
attacks were “Afrophobic” or xenophobic. Nene said the attacks
were definitely xenophobic, as Pakistanis, Indians and other
foreign nationals were also targeted.
The South African government has consistently sought to
downplay animosity towards foreigners. The word xenophobia is
seldom used in official circles.
Nene said Zuma’s intervention was critical because Zuma is a
Zulu from KwaZulu-Natal province,
“He is probably the only person who can rein in King Goodwill
Zwelithini,” Nene said.
The worst flare-up of xenophobic violence in South Africa
occurred in May 2008, when more than 60 people were killed in
attacks across the country. Simmering hostilities boiled over on
several occasions since then, most recently in January 2015.
Since 2008 there has been no successful prosecution on anyone
for a crime directly linked to xenophobia in South Africa.