xenophobia

The South African Red Cross Society (SARCS) says that over 500 foreign nationals have been displaced in xenophobic attacks in Botshabelo in the Free State.

In a press statement, the organisation states that, “It all started when unregistered street vendors were removed in Botshabelo town at a place called Fairways on 3 July [2012].”

The SARCS, which is currently supporting 584 displaced foreigners at the community hall, providing food, blankets and other aid, is pleading with the public, businesses and corporates to assist with clothes, school uniforms, toiletries and food to help the victims.

To read the article titled, “Foreigners evicted from F State shops,” click here.

Foreign nationals continue to be under threat in South Africa four years after wide spread xenophobic attacks.

The month of May is considered Africa month. This is the month that on 25 May 1963; the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed. The formation of the OAU represented the solidarity and unity of African nations and people which aimed to coordinate and intensify cooperation among African states, with the goal of achieving a better life for all the people of Africa.

Over the years, the continent has seen its fair share of wars, famine, natural disasters, but also celebrated its victories as many countries gradually gained independence from colonialism, the abolishing of apartheid was a victory not only for South Africa (SA), but for all the African countries and the international community who had shielded those who went into exile and supported mass movements against apartheid. The dawn of democracy in 1994, was a culmination of years of struggle for freedom and a great celebration for many who had been fighting for equal rights for all. It facilitated a constitutional democracy where everyone’s rights are respected under the law and should also be respected in practice.

However, the constitutional right to dignity and to life of non-nationals have been consistently violated both during apartheid and within the democratic dispensation. The most visible disregard for the lives of non-nationals is consistently witnessed with their continued attacks in the country. While xenophobic attacks had been carried out in various parts of SA unaddressed for many years, despite civil society calls for action, the most disturbing and brutal attacks were witnessed exactly four years ago, it was quite ironic that the month that has been marked as a month to celebrate Africa and African-ness was marred by such attacks. 

8 May marked the fourth anniversary of the xenophobic attacks which left scores of foreigners and South Africans dead and thousands displaced. Violence against migrants continues unabated. Non-nationals across SA are still calling for justice and humane treatment after the 2008 xenophobic attacks. Some of the people who have come to SA for an array of reasons continue to face injustices. These range from violent attacks, being denied access to services and the continued stereotypes attributed to foreign nationals. Recent reports note that non-nationals are regularly attacked in various provinces with a number of deaths reported on a monthly basis. Foreign nationals who own and/or run spaza shops around the country are experiencing intense pressures as they deal with harassment and the destruction of their businesses. Migrants are also confronting ongoing discrimination and violence when seeking and doing work.

Indeed, since the attacks, government has yet to establish a coordinated plan to deal with xenophobia and social cohesion. Instead various government departments and municipalities have their own plans which do not seem to address the continuing xenophobia that non-nationals face. Without a clear plan of action; government, at all levels, runs the risk of perpetuating the conditions of deprivation and isolation that foment attacks against people perceived as foreigners.  This non-coordinated intervention strategy also risk burning communities out as various stakeholders target the same communities to implement intervention strategies.

A key issue that remains unaddressed since the eruption of violence is the lack of accountability for those who were the perpetrators. Many communities continue to wait for the convictions of those responsible for the xenophobic acts. Lack of a timely judicial process for perpetrators, diminishes the rights and protections of all people living in SA, foreigner or citizen. We need justice in order for real peace and stability to be maintained. Lack of proper systems to ensure accountability was evident in the recent case of attacks on foreigners in Limpopo, which resulted in the arrest of over one hundred suspects, many who were later released.

This year’s commemoration offers an opportunity for the South African government to finally follow through on the commitments made at the World Conference Against Racism held in 2001 in Durban and the Durban Review conference in 2010. SA signed and ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in 1994 and 1998 respectively, but government has yet to finalise a National Action Plan to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance 10 years after the Durban conference. A National Action Plan could be a platform for government to address the growing xenophobia that is infecting the country and has the potential to serve as a model for all nations who are high receivers of migrants.

Government would do well in honouring the lives of those who died in the xenophobic attacks by introducing and passing robust hate crime legislation. SA at present has no legislation covering crimes that are motivated by prejudice or that specifically target people on the basis of factors such as race, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion. Injustice toward migrants threatens all of our freedoms.

The commemoration also presents a crucial chance for the government to act decisively to make migrant and refugee rights - human rights. As the focus of this year’s Africa month centres on the diaspora and the contribution they can make to the sustainable development of the continent, it is important that governments, states and all people promote an environment which will build confidence and promotes opportunities for investment whilst upholding the rights and freedoms for all. It is also an opportunity particularly for SA to effectively use and benefit from the skills that many migrants and refugees who are in SA possess and in so doing, ensure development not only of the country but the region and continent. This will also mean that we are contributing towards to realisation of economic development for the continent, thereby promoting the African Union’s vision of ‘an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa’

- Sicel’mpilo Shange-Buthane is executive director at Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA). For more about the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, refer to www.cormsa.org.za.

In a week that saw two Somali traders shot dead in Cape Town and two more in Port Elizabeth, the South African government's handling of xenophobia received the lowest possible rating in a report by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Monitoring Project.

Three years after widespread violence against foreigners broke out across the country, evaluators from the Monitoring Project noted that the government had failed to prioritise the issue, and that "there is even an element of denialism on the part of some officials."

Tara Polzer Ngwato, of the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, agreed with the assessment. “Government responses have been fragmented, poorly-resourced and with limited political commitment," despite a significant rise in attacks on foreign-owned shops in several provinces since the beginning of 2011.

The African Union introduced the APRM in 2003 as an instrument for improving governance and accountability. After agreeing to participate, countries identify their weaknesses and develop a National Programme of Action (NPoA) to address them.

The Monitoring Project, made up of civil society researchers and activists from the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP), and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), evaluated the government's track record on implementing its NPoA, and graded its progress on critical government issues.

Green is the highest rating, orange indicates some progress, and red little or no progress. Xenophobia was among seven areas given a red rating with others including corruption, poverty and unemployment. Successful management of elections got the only green rating.

Government initiatives fall short

South Africa's NPoA did not mention xenophobia, but a section in an official review of APRM implementation released in January 2011 covered government actions to address the issue, including setting up a unit to counter xenophobia and a communications programme to promote greater harmony between citizens and foreign nationals.

However, the Monitoring Project report described the section as "poorly written with inadvertent repetition and... clearly assembled in a hurry".

Several of the initiatives it listed have not been sustained or rolled out nationally; one, the Counter-Xenophobia Unit in the Department of Home Affairs, got off to "a bright start" according to the report, but "appears to have lost momentum".

Sicel'mpilo Shange-Buthane, director of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), told IRIN that after doing some initial awareness-raising, the group had been renamed the Integration and Repatriation Unit, but under new leadership in the Home Affairs Department it had been reluctant to implement xenophobia-related programmes.

Polzer Ngwato commented that the Unit was severely understaffed, and the new name had narrowed its mandate to dealing only with refugees and asylum seekers.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee on Xenophobia, set up after the 2008 attacks, is no longer active and the drafting of a National Action Plan to address xenophobia started in 2009 has still not been finalised. "Various departments are involved in social cohesion campaigns but there's no coordination in terms of what they're doing," said Shange-Buthane.

Political leaders implicated

There is no centralised system for monitoring and recording xenophobic violence, but in the first quarter of 2011 the Human Sciences Research Council tracked 20 deaths, 40 injuries, 200 foreign-owned shops looted and thousands displaced. One recent incident – the beating and stoning to death of a Zimbabwean national in an informal settlement outside Polokwane in Limpopo Province - was followed by the arrest of a local ward councillor affiliated with the African National Congress party for allegedly inciting the attack.

Local government officials have been implicated in several similar attacks in the last two years. Research by ACMS has identified competition for political and economic power in local communities as a key trigger of violence against foreigners.

"There are... many political leaders, along with much of the general population, who perceive foreigners to be a direct threat to citizen economic empowerment and service access, even though there is no evidence that this is in fact the case," said Polzer Ngwato, noting recent comments by Maggie Maunye, who chairs the parliamentary oversight committee of the Department of Home Affairs.

The Star newspaper, reported that during a briefing Maunye asked Home Affairs officials how much longer South Africa was going to allow foreigners to enter the country. "Is it not going to affect our resources, the economy of the country?" she was reported as saying.

"Here we have people who are living in poverty daily, people who are unemployed. We've never enjoyed our freedom as South Africans - we got it in 1994, and we had floods of refugees or undocumented people in the country."

Tina Ghelli, spokesperson for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in South Africa, said a Protection Working Group, set up by civil society groups and UNHCR to provide an early warning system for potential xenophobic violence, worked closely with the South African Police Service's Visible Policing Unit and had experienced some success in preventing attacks.

"They have been more responsive than in the past, but it hasn't trickled down to the local police everywhere," she told IRIN. "One of the big issues is… impunity - people think if they do something to a foreigner there are no repercussions."

In a list of recommendations to the now inactive Inter-Ministerial Committee in June 2010, CoRMSA urged better access to justice for victims of xenophobic violence. "Perpetrators are often not held accountable, which results in a perception of impunity for crimes against foreign nationals."

The APRM Monitoring Project report concludes that failing to address xenophobia in South Africa's NPoA "indicates the ambivalence of government in recognizing and dealing with the issue as a priority, and in a systematic way. The disastrous consequences of May 2008 and subsequent outbreaks of violence are further testimony of this."

- This article first was published on the IRIN News website. IRIN is a humanitarian news and analysis service covering the parts of the world often under-reported, misunderstood or ignored.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that socio-economic problems are the major cause of xenophobia in South Africa.

UNHCR deputy regional representative, Sergio Calle Norena, points out that no society is xenophobic by nature, adding that the 2008 xenophobic attacks that left 62 people dead were caused by lack of development.

Norena, who argues that it was not impossible to address such attacks, is of the view that South Africans need to have better access to employment. He also calls on employers should stop paying foreigners less than locals.

To read the article titled, “UN: No society xenophobic by nature,” click here.