'We need to address xenophobia'
2008-05-16 15:40
Cape Town - The violence in Alexandra and Diepsloot has once again brought the issue of xenophobia into the headlines, but this is not a new problem, nor is it one that is likely to be easily solved.
With attitudes along the lines of "They corrupt our sisters and do drugs", "They take our jobs, our girls, and they're selling drugs", and "They are very corrupt and they increase our crime levels by selling drugs", it's clear that addressing xenophobia will not be easy.
Research company Freshly Ground Insights recently interviewed 550 people across the country to gauge the extent of xenophobia. "The overwhelming message from the research is that immigrants from African countries are not welcome by South African 'main market' consumers. The main reason why South Africans feel this way is because they attribute crime and unemployment in South Africa to foreign immigrants from other African countries," research executive Louise Wheeler told News24.
Respondents believe most foreign immigrants come from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The least-welcome immigrants are Nigerians, according to 53% of respondents, while nearly half felt that immigrants from England are welcome in South Africa.
Immigrants who were questioned in the survey attributed xenophobia to a criminal element comprising both South Africans and African immigrants. "The implication is that even law-abiding African immigrants have been unfairly 'tainted' with this brush," said Wheeler.
A small number of respondents also said xenophobia stems from them being better at business and making money than most South Africans, she added.
'Every person in this country has rights'
Adv Tseliso Thipanyane, CEO of the Human Rights Commission, says the causes of xenophobia are numerous and complex, with competition for scare resources in terms of jobs and housing; criminality; attitudes; South Africa's own development problems, and our violent past being the main contributors.
"In terms of the Constitution, every person in this country has rights, even illegal immigrants. If South Africans don't like them, that doesn't give them the right to attack them."
What is worrying for the HRC is the fact that it is mostly black foreigners being attacked by black South Africans. "This seems to be a legacy of our own racial oppression from the past, where oppression leads to self-hatred," Thipanyane said.
The South African Institute for Race Relations says it gets far more enquiries and complaints about xenophobia than it does about racism. "It's a very big problem and it's deeply ingrained, playing itself out in poor communities" says SAIRR deputy CEO Frans Cronje.
"It also takes place because these illegal immigrants have very limited legal standing in the country, and are therefore unable to access the police and justice system, so they become easy victims."
Criminal element
According to Cronje, there are different issues at play. The xenophobia experienced by Somalis in Cape Town is largely due to them setting up shops in competition to existing spaza shops, and then outdoing them as businessmen. "These attacks are sparked by simple economic competition."
What is being experienced in Alexandra and Diepsloot can be attributed to lawlessness and the "criminal element hijacking xenophobic violence", he said.
"The Zimbabweans and Mozambicans are being targeted, because they are competing for limited jobs and services. There's this idea that they are
keeping these from South Africans, but this is very difficult to prove."
Xenophobia-related violence also has its roots in service delivery. "While there are elements of success in service delivery, people who haven't received houses aren't placated by the fact that others have, and that gives rise to this kind of civil uprising," Cronje said. "What is happening in Alex is an expression of failed development policies in South Africa," he said.
Many immigrants have obtained South African ID books illegally and been given RDP houses ahead of locals, compounding this problem.
Positive economic impact on South Africa
Cronje also pointed out that the estimated three to five million foreigners have a positive economic impact on the country. "They are all consumers, and have created a massive market, I'm sure a lot of the suppliers of the Somali spaza shops are South Africans.
"The net economic benefit to poor communities is greater than the perceived losses of jobs. Removing them from informal communities would have a devastating effect," he said.
"We associate illegal immigrants with taking jobs and involvement in crime, but there is no way that over three million of them are involved in crime to survive on a day-to-day basis, otherwise we'd have a much bigger crime problem."
What to do to address xenophobia?
Stopping this sort of violence is also no easy task. Cronje says educational programmes won't be successful. "We must ensure faster and more effective participation in the economy, which will prevent the need for it."
It is also unlikely that the foreigners will leave South Africa, even if the situation in Zimbabwe improves. "We need to accept that three to five million African immigrants are a permanent feature of our population, and give them some sort of legal standing, so they can contribute to the economy and pay tax.
"In a skills-hungry economy, you may find that many Zimbabwean teachers for instance are able to contribute. But that won't go down well. Not doing it won't change the problem, but doing it means you can manage it better," Cronje said.
Fatima Kahn of the Refugee Rights Project at the University of Cape Town, says authorities have long denied the existence of xenophobia, blaming attacks on immigrants not integrating with the local community, or because of service delivery.
To tackle the problem, police and government must first recognise xenophobia, she says, citing attacks by skinheads in Germany and "Paki-bashers" in the UK, where police acknowledge the problem and deal with it.
"They will have to find out exactly what is making them carry out these attacks, and act on it."
Given that police have often been slow to act, the response of police and government and arrests in Alexandra and Diepsloot are a "step in the right direction", Kahn added.
It is also a misconception that xenophobia happens only in poor communities, as people who don't pay their Zimbabwean maids or Malawian gardeners the minimum wage, or employ them in terms of the Labour Relations Act, are also guilty of abusing them, she said.
"It's a cop-out to say it is only happening in poor communities. Xenophobia takes place everywhere"
Violent past
"South Africa is also a very violent country given our past, and people still resort to violence to sort out their problems - we must address this issue of why South Africans are so prone to violence. If we don't address all these issues, it will be difficult to address xenophobia," said Thipanyane.
He added that the HRC has been investigating xenophobia for 10 years, and the situation is getting worse, not better. "We must go back to the drawing board and find more effective ways of dealing with this problem."