allAfrica.com: South Africa: Is This Integration? (Page 1 of 2)

The barbaric acts of violence against foreign African nationals in South Africa over the past month appears to have drawn to a close. However, thousands remain displaced and face the daunting task of putting their lives back together. Government indecisiveness, continuing xenophobic sentiment and the bitter cold of winter remain sizeable stumbling blocks in advancing the process of their reintegration into South African society.

Durban suffered mainly reverberations of the mass violence emanating from Gauteng, but reports of harassment, poor living conditions for displaced refugees and growing fear amongst immigrant communities continue to filter in. What are the underlining issues and are they new? More importantly, how do we move forward? Azad Essa speaks to Pierre Matate, Deputy Chairperson of the KZN Refugee Council, to find out more.

Q. What is the KZN Refugee council?

A. We try to bring back the dignity of foreigners who have been pushed down by the denial to documentation. The council is there to advocate that a person needs to be treated as a person, with respect and with dignity. We are also trying to stop the brain drain; we need to send people back home with skills so they can go back and rebuild their country. We strive to have programs to promote the dignity and pride in their homes. The South African government has failed, in all ways, to utilize the skills offered by foreigners. They leave them exposed and treat them like cows and sheep standing in a queue.

Q. What is the latest situation in Durban?

A. Most of the people have been running to the churches. Local government said they would provide temporary shelters, but this hasn't happened. Right now, people are desperate -where to go, what to do - car guards feel vulnerable, especially at night. The Emmanual Cathedral has around 100 refugees, mostly Zimbabweans. With regards to integration, there is nothing promising from the current situation. eThekwini's City Manager, Michael Sutcliffe said that refugees are a small number, just a minority and therefore not a priority, when compared to South Africans needing housing etc. This is irresponsible. We were forced to be on the streets and there aren't any structures to assist us. We cannot be compared to ordinary South Africans; our situation is different.

Q. Having worked with the Refugee council for so many years, have you had to deal with many cases of xenophobia even before the mass violence that erupted last month?

A. Well, it started with the Somalis in the Western Cape, some time ago. But it wasn't called xenophobia; it was called crime. In 2000, there was a case in KZN, but government denied that this case was a xenophobic crime. Basically the denial of foreigners' rights, whether it is denying documentation or services, exacerbates xenophobic sentiment. The South African community is generally good and friendly, but this sort of structural sentiment has corrupted them. And there were signs. Recently there were meetings held to discuss foreigners. I was at such a meeting in the Albert Park area (in Durban CBD), where foreigners were called smelly, dirty, criminals and drug traffickers. It was a meeting to discuss how to deal with these foreigners. Some one at the meeting asked what we should do with them, and another screamed out, "Burn them". So it is not as if these things were not discussed or not planned.

Q. Is it about poor integration?

A. Integration does not necessarily mean that people have to stay forever. It is about allowing people to be free, being mobile and accessing services, including being skilled. Integrating can be simply providing proper documentation. If foreigners are skilled, they have options: to go back or continue living here, (but) to integrate, people need to be provided accommodation. After twenty years of staying in the communities, people were picked out as foreigners, even if they spoke Zulu. eThekwini Municipaility Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo struggled when he addressed victims at a police station in Durban. He was speaking English, but the crowd screamed back "Speak Zulu". People were confused, "Were we addressing foreigners?" People were integrated, sharing the joys and sorrows in the informal settlements. They speak the language, understand the culture, but by not creating awareness that these people were now South African and by not giving those with South African ID's housing - that which they are entitled to - their integration was somewhat incomplete. They remained the foreigners in the area.

Q. What about the South Africans who were killed in the violence?

A. Some of these brothers, from Malawi and Mozambique, were naturalized South Africans. They were still killed. This talk that South Africans were also killed gives government an excuse to cover up the xenophobic sentiment. The fact is that they were from somewhere else and were killed for that reason. Another example, a few naturalized South Africans were given housing, but the Department of Housing was accused of giving houses to illegal foreigners. In this case, these were two permanent South African residents but the community does not see your documentation. They just see you as Pierre Matate from Congo; nothing else. Many foreigners are not recorded, not identified. There is no census for this, and so there are no details about these guys. Of course this causes more xenophobia.

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