Last month, when the Zulu leader King Goodwill Zwelithini opened his mouth in front of a packed crowd in the town of Pongola, he did little to live up to his name. Instead he reportedly demanded that foreigners in the country should pack their bags and leave.
The Zulu king’s words are believed to have contributed towards unleashing a wave of xenophobic attacks, beginning in Durban and then flaring up in other parts of the country. These have been largely directed at people from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other African nations.
On Monday, Zwelithini claimed he had been misquoted, and called for calm. But by then, the damage had already been done, leaving seven dead, scores injured, hundreds displaced, and many on their way out to go back home.
Zwelithini wasn’t the only one demanding that foreigners be sent home. President Jacob Zuma’s son Edward, came out in support of the king’s statement at the time, reportedly calling foreigners a security threat to the country.
The violence has largely flared up in townships – home to the poorest sections of the country, where basic services are lacking, crime and unemployment are high, and daily life is a struggle. That is why, analysts say, relatively well-off migrants from non-African countries, including Indians, have not been targeted.
Crises of governance
“The violence is happening against outsiders in particular types of communities; communities facing crises of governance,” said Loren B Landau, a professor at the African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. “Whoever is there – African, Asian, or even citizens – who are seen as outsiders are being attacked. The vast majority of newcomers to the spots are Africans so this is the majority of who gets attacked.”
People have been quibbling over the semantics of how to describe what is happening: is this xenophobia, is this pure criminality or is it Afrophobia? Loren said it was not an immigration issue, but “the failure to channel discontent and the constant demonisation of outsiders as threats”.
The usual bogeymen against foreigners have been raised including fears that outsiders will steal local jobs and causing higher rates of crime. But there is no compelling evidence to prove this is so. In fact foreigners have been found to have even created jobs through small businesses. Independent fact-checking agency Africa Check quoted statistics to indicate that 82% of the working population between 15 years and 64 years were “non-migrants”, 14% were “domestic migrants” who had moved internally between provinces in the past five years and just 4% were “international migrants”. A further breakdown of the data showed that 79% of these were African, 17% were white and around 3% were Indian or Asian.
Challenges remain
On April 27, South Africa will celebrate 21 years since it held its first democratic elections that brought Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress to power after Apartheid ended. However, as the nation struggles to build itself, challenges persist and frustration remains. “If we look at overall crime trends in South Africa, there have been worrying indications that our social fabric is particularly stressed or frayed right now – as we can see through specific things like the increase in service delivery protests across the country, and increases in multiple specific categories of violent crime in the previous crime reporting year,” said Nechama Brodie, a journalist, writer and contributor at Africa Check. “The outtake of all of this is: tensions are running very high in South Africa… These outbreaks of anti-foreigner violence [are a symptom of that]. There is tension, there is frustration.”
Brodie said that 20 years was hardly enough to fully address the inequalities generated over 40 years of apartheid, and 350 years of slavery and colonialism.
This isn’t the first time something of this nature is happening. In 2008, a wave of xenophobic attacks rocked the country, claiming more than 60 lives and displacing thousands.
On Tuesday afternoon, St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town held a special service featuring different speakers. “This is happening again, and we are feeling very hurt,” said Astrida Nsenga, 47, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who has been in South Africa for 12 years. “Unfortunately our brothers and sisters are killing us. Africa belongs to all Africans.”
Nsenga dissolved into tears as she continued before the huge gathering. “We’re not here to take your jobs or to take your lives or to kill each other,” she said, sobbing. “We plead with the government. Please help us. Let us live in harmony.”
President condemns violence
President Zuma has condemned the violence and has cancelled his international trips to stay back and tackle the situation. “As government we are doing all in our power to stop the attacks and prevent them from recurring,” said Andries Nel, the deputy minister for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, at the same event. “We must not forget the solidarity and support given by our African brothers and sisters during our dark days [of Apartheid].”
The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party has condemned the ruling African National Congress for doing far too little to quell the disastrous situation fast enough. “We must call on leaders to act more responsibly,” said Patricia De Lille, Cape Town’s mayor and a leader in the DA, at Tuesday’sservice. “They must lead us to unity, not further division.”
#XenophobiaMustFall was quick to become a hashtag, but even a peace march in Durban last week degenerated into violence. The country has been shaken up by the images of looting, rioting and brutality that have swept the nation in the past fortnight. “These images are some of the worst since the dawn of our democracy,” said De Lille.
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The Zulu king’s words are believed to have contributed towards unleashing a wave of xenophobic attacks, beginning in Durban and then flaring up in other parts of the country. These have been largely directed at people from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other African nations.
On Monday, Zwelithini claimed he had been misquoted, and called for calm. But by then, the damage had already been done, leaving seven dead, scores injured, hundreds displaced, and many on their way out to go back home.
Zwelithini wasn’t the only one demanding that foreigners be sent home. President Jacob Zuma’s son Edward, came out in support of the king’s statement at the time, reportedly calling foreigners a security threat to the country.
The violence has largely flared up in townships – home to the poorest sections of the country, where basic services are lacking, crime and unemployment are high, and daily life is a struggle. That is why, analysts say, relatively well-off migrants from non-African countries, including Indians, have not been targeted.
Crises of governance
“The violence is happening against outsiders in particular types of communities; communities facing crises of governance,” said Loren B Landau, a professor at the African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. “Whoever is there – African, Asian, or even citizens – who are seen as outsiders are being attacked. The vast majority of newcomers to the spots are Africans so this is the majority of who gets attacked.”
People have been quibbling over the semantics of how to describe what is happening: is this xenophobia, is this pure criminality or is it Afrophobia? Loren said it was not an immigration issue, but “the failure to channel discontent and the constant demonisation of outsiders as threats”.
The usual bogeymen against foreigners have been raised including fears that outsiders will steal local jobs and causing higher rates of crime. But there is no compelling evidence to prove this is so. In fact foreigners have been found to have even created jobs through small businesses. Independent fact-checking agency Africa Check quoted statistics to indicate that 82% of the working population between 15 years and 64 years were “non-migrants”, 14% were “domestic migrants” who had moved internally between provinces in the past five years and just 4% were “international migrants”. A further breakdown of the data showed that 79% of these were African, 17% were white and around 3% were Indian or Asian.
Challenges remain
On April 27, South Africa will celebrate 21 years since it held its first democratic elections that brought Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress to power after Apartheid ended. However, as the nation struggles to build itself, challenges persist and frustration remains. “If we look at overall crime trends in South Africa, there have been worrying indications that our social fabric is particularly stressed or frayed right now – as we can see through specific things like the increase in service delivery protests across the country, and increases in multiple specific categories of violent crime in the previous crime reporting year,” said Nechama Brodie, a journalist, writer and contributor at Africa Check. “The outtake of all of this is: tensions are running very high in South Africa… These outbreaks of anti-foreigner violence [are a symptom of that]. There is tension, there is frustration.”
Brodie said that 20 years was hardly enough to fully address the inequalities generated over 40 years of apartheid, and 350 years of slavery and colonialism.
This isn’t the first time something of this nature is happening. In 2008, a wave of xenophobic attacks rocked the country, claiming more than 60 lives and displacing thousands.
On Tuesday afternoon, St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town held a special service featuring different speakers. “This is happening again, and we are feeling very hurt,” said Astrida Nsenga, 47, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who has been in South Africa for 12 years. “Unfortunately our brothers and sisters are killing us. Africa belongs to all Africans.”
Nsenga dissolved into tears as she continued before the huge gathering. “We’re not here to take your jobs or to take your lives or to kill each other,” she said, sobbing. “We plead with the government. Please help us. Let us live in harmony.”
President condemns violence
President Zuma has condemned the violence and has cancelled his international trips to stay back and tackle the situation. “As government we are doing all in our power to stop the attacks and prevent them from recurring,” said Andries Nel, the deputy minister for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, at the same event. “We must not forget the solidarity and support given by our African brothers and sisters during our dark days [of Apartheid].”
The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party has condemned the ruling African National Congress for doing far too little to quell the disastrous situation fast enough. “We must call on leaders to act more responsibly,” said Patricia De Lille, Cape Town’s mayor and a leader in the DA, at Tuesday’sservice. “They must lead us to unity, not further division.”
#XenophobiaMustFall was quick to become a hashtag, but even a peace march in Durban last week degenerated into violence. The country has been shaken up by the images of looting, rioting and brutality that have swept the nation in the past fortnight. “These images are some of the worst since the dawn of our democracy,” said De Lille.