'Zim crisis, xenophobia linked'

2008-05-16 14:41

Cape Town - The recent spate of xenophobic attacks in Johannesburg is a sign the crisis in Zimbabwe is spilling over into SA, the Freedom Front Plus warned on Friday.

"The Zimbabwe crisis is now escalating beyond (that country) into the southern African region... That's the real reason (for the xenophobic violence)," FF Plus Chief Whip Corne Mulder told MPs during a special debate in the National Assembly.

The debate was called to examine the issue of escalating attacks on foreigners in Alexandra and other areas in Johannesburg. The past week has seen hundreds of mainly Zimbabweans and Mozambicans forced to take shelter around police stations after attacks on them by armed mobs.

Mulder said the attacks could be linked to a number of policy failures on the part of the African National Congress.

First among these was silent diplomacy towards Zimbabwe, and "tacit approval" for what that country's president, Robert Mugabe, and his ruling Zanu-PF party were doing.

"The effect of this is that more than three million Zimbabweans had to flee Mugabe's tyrannical rule to South Africa."

The problem was exacerbated by "ineffective" action by the Departments of Homes A ffairs and safety and security, which were "incapable of securing South Africa's borders and to process refugees".

'Policy-failure chickens'

Also to blame was poor service delivery at grassroots level.

"The policy-failure chickens of the ANC are coming home to roost, one after the other," Mulder said.

While not naming Mugabe, Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille referred to "rogue leaders" who drove their people to what they thought were greener pastures in South Africa, sparking a competition for already scarce resources.

"Xenophobia is happening because we have no proper mechanism to deal with refugees and illegal immigrants. We have no proper control at our borders, and there is wide-scale corruption at (the department of) home affairs," she told the House.

An education campaign was needed to teach South Africans the difference between a refugee and an illegal immigrant.

Democratic Alliance leader Sheila Camerer told MPs there was an urgent need for transformation at the department of home affairs.

Further, a security "vacuum" along South Africa's borders was the major contributor to unregulated migration into the country.

Camerer also called for a survey to determine how many illegal immigrants there were in South Africa.

"And (finding) solutions which will either see them properly integrated into South Africa or returned to their country of origin," she said.

The Inkatha Freedom Party's Ben Skosana said xenophobia had become "rampant" in South Africa.

'Unfreedoms' of deprivation

"It is... criminal for local residents to take the law in their hands, resulting in wanton theft, destruction and killings that we are now seeing.

"Regrettably, this mayhem could be indicative of the reaction from a people who ... still suffer the severe psychological social and economic 'unfreedoms' and deprivation," he said.

The ANC's Obed Bapela - who comes from Alexandra - suggested "criminality" was a major feature of the attacks, while conceding the "land issue" in the township was a problem.

He said of the two people killed in the violence, one was South African, and of the 65 injured, "40% were South Africans and 60% foreigners".

All parties who spoke during the debate condemned the violence.

- SAPA