Karima Brown
20 May 2008
column
Johannesburg — WHILE it is well and good to blame the government for not having proper policies in place to deal with SA's refugee crisis, the violence against foreign Africans is a reflection of something far uglier.
Granted, the government has consistently displayed a tin ear when it comes to the sheer scale of our refugee crisis, especially since the economic and political meltdown in Zimbabwe in recent years . The lack of leadership from the government in recent weeks is also not helping. This leadership vacuum comes from the top. After a week of violence that left several people dead, all President Thabo Mbeki could mutter at the weekend was that the police must act firmly and arrest the culprits and that a panel would be set up to look at the underlying causes of the violence.
When in doubt, appoint a panel. Mbeki's government has become so adept at obfuscation that setting up commissions, panels and conducting audits in the face of any crisis seems like a national pastime. The police's conduct also leaves much to be desired. Apart from promising to retaliate with live ammunition should they be fired at, the South African Police Service has done very little to get to the bottom of how marauding groups of armed men can go from place to place and attack whoever they deem to be foreigners.
It is also common knowledge that the police are not free of the xenophobia that is so present in communities. Police harassment of foreign Africans in places such as Hillbrow, Yeoville and other inner- city communities is well known.
But what the recent pogroms in Gauteng townships point to is not just state failure. South African society as a whole stands condemned. The violence exposes shortcomings in our society at a moral, social and political level. Considering the solidarity shown during our struggle against apartheid by our neighbours in the frontline states, the killing of foreign Africans in a so-called liberated SA is particularly appalling. Not only did many on the continent endure military attacks, they also provided shelter, food and even employment to thousands of exiles when they needed it most. Now that it is our turn to provide sanctuary and solidarity, we repay our neighbours with murder and rape.
While it is true that there is a scramble for resources in poor communities that is often exploited by local strongmen for political gain, it does not provide all the answers to the senseless violence and the finger-pointing at foreigners. These communities have always been badly off, yet we have not seen the level of violence of recent weeks.
Moreover, the silence from community organisations such as civic structures, local churches and other grassroots bodies in the wake of the attacks is simply deafening. This silence points either to acquiescence on the part of local leaders or a complete demobilisation on the part of community organisations that formed the backbone of resistance during the struggle years. Whatever the reasons, it points to a dangerous vacuum that has already been exploited with deadly consequences.
Apart from the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, which plays a vital role in providing sanctuary to vulnerable refugees, why are our spiritual leaders not responding to the cries of the victims of the recent violence with more vigour? As vulnerable women and children flee their homes, where is the moral leadership of the country?
Since the outbreak of attacks in Alexandra, the African National Congress leadership has spoken out, but it is simply not enough, especially if one considers that the violence is spreading and could soon engulf the province. Is it not ironic that most, if not all, of the victims happen to be fellow Africans? This cruel reality blows out of the water any notions of pan-Africanism, never mind the African renaissance so often spoken of by Mbeki and other politicians. Clearly our isolation during apartheid did not only trap whites in an unsustainable bubble, it also insulated the majority from the world including, importantly, our neighbours in the region.
Brown is political editor.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Violence in all its forms must be condemned. This particular kind of violence against foreigners must be condemned even more vehemently. But when the emotions are down, and sobriety and objectivity back, South Africans must take stock about what went wrong.
Progroms, as Karima rightfully used the word, have always been occassioned by perceived or real economic grievances. As South Africans for whatever reasons we do not have the resources to accommodate all the poor people from the rest of Africa.
We have through neglect or ommission pitted our own poor against the poor illegal immigrants for scarce & dwindling… [Read Full Text]