BREAKING: SA police arrest three over xenophobic attacks
November 25, 2013 Costa Mano Headlines, Top Stories
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
Some of the remains of property belonging to Zimbabweans that was burnt by a mob of South Africans in xenophobia motivated attacks last Thursday night.
South African police have arrested three men who are believed to be the masterminds of the xenophobic attacks which saw a mob of natives burning five shops, two houses and two vehicles belonging to Zimbabweans on Thursday night in Liphalale town under Limpopo Province.
Among the vehicles that were burnt were a Ford Bantam and a Nissan pick-up belonging to a Zimbabwean businessman.
Sources from Liphalale today said the trio is also linked to the disturbances in Maropong suburb between April and May this year. Tensions had been high since April 16 when a number of Zimbabweans living in the area were attacked by South Africans.
The volatile situation in Liphalale has forced Zimbabweans living in that area to form a committee to engage the local community and policy makers on the repeated attacks.
The committee’s organising secretary Mr Jefta Mararike, who is also a victim of the attacks, said in a telephone interview today that the trio was arrested on Friday morning.
He said the situation had slightly improved following the deployment of police officers to the suburb.
“The police have arrested three men who were leading the mob in both incidents (May and last Thursday). They took action at the intervention of the Zimbabwe consulate. The police have indicated to us that the suspects will appear in court this week and we hope to see justice prevailing,” he said.
“The situation is improving slightly though most of us are still skeptical about the way the police are handling the issues. They gave us assurances that they will be a heavy presence of police details but we are only seeing very few on the ground”
He said many Zimbabweans living in the area had relocated to other towns, while others have adopted a wait and see attitude.
Liphalale police spokesperson Warrant Officer Mokoena who last week refused to answer questions from The Herald could not be reached for comment. In May, five shops belonging to Zimbabweans were razed down to ashes by a mob in Marapong suburb in the same town.
It has since been established that the Liphalale Business Forum which operates small to medium enterprises is behind the onslaught on Zimbabweans whom they accuse of putting them out of business and of fanning crime in the area.
Zimbabwe’s Consular General to South Africa Mr Godfrey Magwenzi, who last week visited the area with South African police, said in a telephone interview that he will issue a statement later.
Zimbabweans living in South Africa, especially Limpopo and Gauteng provinces have been on the receiving end of xenophobia motivated attacks.
Labels: SOUTH AFRICA, THIRD FORCE, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
(HERALD ZW) Harrowing experience at SA’s Lindela camp
Sunday, 16 June 2013 00:00
Henry Tawanda
The hatred of foreigners reared its ugly head recently as thousands of Zimbabweans were stranded at the notorious Lindela detention facility in Krugersdorp in South Africa.
Angry police details shouting profanities at absent presidents Joyce Banda, Robert Mugabe, Joseph Kabila and others of countries in Africa bundled this writer together with several other foreigners into a police truck and dumped at a police station for three days regardless that it was a Sunday, Monday being a working day! The arrests were done with peerless verve and passion reminiscent of the apartheid spirit that manifested hatred and an air of superiority albeit the arresting officers being black!
Apartheid was the system of segregation used by De Klerk, Piki Botha and their police and army cronies whose interests was a narrow hatred of Africans and their skin regardless of their education, social class or overall contribution to the economy.
From around May police from Rustenberg, Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein - basically the whole of South Africa moved around in intimidating fashion, from riding on horse back to police scrimmaging using trucks, armed to the teeth, preying on desperate and hard-working foreigners they could see at gates of homesteads, workplaces and malls.
The officers would immediately pull guns, search and shut victims into trucks without charging or fully informing them of their rights. These police details were on a serious mission as 90 percent of the inmates this writer interviewed protested that they had been bundled from complexes and informal workplaces despite informing the authorities they had documents at their houses.
They spent needless days holed up in police cells and were only released on the day their papers arrived. Those whose papers were not in order find themselves trekking to the infamous Lindela deportation facility.
Further to the mere inconvenience of detention, it seems only the lucky people left the mind-numbing institution in good time. A classic case of human rights abuse by institutional inadequacies was on a pastor from Kenya.
After recounting his story to me we sat down for three solid days and gave birth to a non-governmental organisation that has a clear mandate to assist African governments and migrants on life at Lindela and livelihood after deportation.
Deportation is always sudden and as such disturbs the normal flow of life. Deported people always come home with mere clothes that are on their bodies, leaving behind unpaid salaries, wives and children (95% of deportees are male!)
To put this scourge into clear perspective the pastor’s story is apt as it shows a lot of issues that are at play in this problem. We shared the 42 bed cell with pastor Mhuchu, a Kenyan who was moving from South Africa to Botswana. On approaching the immigration officers he was stopped in his tracks at Kopfontein, the Thlokweni border post on May 19.
After presenting his passport to the immigration officials, he was immediately taken from the queue by an immigration officer whose name on the name-tag was inscribed Jeremiah. Jeremiah swiftly advised the pentecostal pastor that the permit was illegitimate. He quickly laid fraud charges and organised with the police to transport him to Grootmarico, 130 kilometres away on the same day.
He stayed in the Grootmarico cells through Sunday the 20th. On Monday the 21st he was due to appear before a magistrate at Lehurutse about 70 kilometres away. While still in the holding cells the police man with whom he came arrived with another gentleman who asked him how much he had. He advised the duo that he had 300 pula which they took and changed. An invoice was printed on bond paper registered by one E Sethedi and authorised by one R Kokoane.
The most baffling issue with this was how he could say he had 300 pula and they would say its fine and proceed to produce an A4 bond invoice. This writer had the priviledge to look at the printout and share the eerie feeling of being ripped off together with the man of the cloth. The gentleman was immediately whisked to Hieverdient on May 22 where he was issued with a notification of deportation (Section 7 (1)(g) read with sectin 34 (1)a .
He was kept at the centre for 15 chilling days with one set of clothes. He was hauled to Lindela on May 5 , I departed on 12 May and he had no respite in sight 24 days later. He remains in the dark as to when he shall land in Kenya as he is still to get his passport back.
The questions to ask range from what the police could have done to arrest the conniving agent who prepared the expensive fake permit using the pastor as a state witness to why they charged him 300 rands to eliminate the fraud case needlessly raised on him.
As a result of this system of victimization, the actual culprits - the fake agents who in some instances claim to be lawyers will dupe more people while the government’s attention will remain inexplicably gazed at the wrong people, the desperate job and documents seekers.
Lindela does not only house the hapless and innocent job seekers. A Tanzanian national, Hakim was good enough to recount his sad story. Hakim was coming from prison, Suncity. His arrest came by in 2004 when he was arrested at OR Tambo for drug possession. He was released on May 20 2013. By the time I left on June 12 he was getting yellow with frustration at the authorities.
On entering prison, US$500 was declared as his possession, a passport and his air ticket back to native Tanzania. However on release date, 9 years later he could get neither his money nor his passport.
More experienced drug mules from Brazil were claiming that in Europe the government is so good as to sell the ticket and credit the money to the prisoner such that by the time they finish their sentences they would be swiftly deported using the funds rather than government money.
The Lindela jury comprised of keen inmates trying to make sense of their predicament sat and condemned this as an act of police petty theft and wanton abuse of priviledge.
Tanzanians, Malawians, Nigerians and Ugandans told of harrowing tales, staying at the facility for two months and more.
Constitutionally this could be written down somewhere but that does not make it any just.
The mental and psychological torture, loss of time, income and uncertainty and loss of face when you land home clad in the only clothes on the person are issues to consider.
Crime is a major concern in South Africa but the paradox lies in the fact that two thirds of deported individuals that I interviewed were determined to come back as they had specific jobs they were doing. Which then makes sense to register Zimbabweans on a second phase of the Documentation of Zimbabweans Project as phase two before the expiry of the ones issued in 2010.
Other governments such as the DRC, CAR, Tanzania and Uganda also need to ensure that their Citizens are protected by entering into bi-lateral arrangements to get the best conditions for their immigrants.
This writer together with a couple of detainees had the unfortunate realization that the esteemed agents that took care of permit applications on our behalf had actually processed non-existant documents! The home affairs personnel that visited the police cells were the harbingers of that sad news.
In the face of a possible reprieve, we found ourselves staring possible fraud charges thereby condemning us to the despicable Lindela deportation centre. That quickly put the question of the DZP (Documentation for Zimbawean Professionals) documents under discussion.
As of the deportation that occurred on June 12 2013, six buses crossed Beitbridge Border Post and only three buses under the auspices of the International Organisation for Migration made their way into inland Zimbabwe. Three buses worth of immigrants made their illegal way back into South Africa on the same day. It is baffling on a cost and efficacy level as it is clearly not the solution in the eyes of the affected.
According to Kubatana.net, “About 276 000 Zimbabweans applied for work, business and study permits under the ZDP, according to South Africa’s Home Affairs Department - a fraction of the 1 to 1,5 million Zimbabwean migrants that the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated were living in the country.
As the ZDP project concluded, South Africa lifted the moratorium on deportations in October 2011. Since then, IOM says it has assisted 50 635 returnees - an average of 2 600 deportees per month - at the Beitbridge Reception and Support Centre at South Africa’s border with Zimbabwe’’
To aid the IOM’s mission, The Pan African Migrant Rehabilitation and Re-integration organisation, PAMiRR has been formed. It hopes to make alliances with the ministry of Youth and Indigenisation, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, The International Organization For Migration and other organisations that are keen to support governments to take care of its people.
The model is a synergistic approach that seeks to utilize all these organisations’ core strengths while directly managing events at Lindela in the first Phase and other detention centres around the world that hold Africans for deportation.
Funds that will directly benefit deportee projects will not only be a source of direct foreign investment, rather it will be a source of employment and a motivation to banish the illegal immigrant phenomenon.
The money that the South African government has used to cater for illegal immigrants by way of deportations could be gainfully used to document the reasonably skilled immigrants that are participating in the economy.
The current back log of applications needs to be cleared so as to encourage meaningful participation in economic affairs by foreigners and to curb crime.
The police needs to handle itself with decorum and respect the rights of all people regardless of economic standing and nationality. Holding centres such as Lindela need to be better equipped to give deportees a humane deportation experience rather than maintaining a medium security prison aura. Food for thought for governments and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Henry Tawanda is a marketing and humanitarian practitioner keen on playing a part in ensuring that governments and NGOs participate in availing funds for reintegration and rehabilitation of deportees into the economies and societies they came from originally.
Labels: REFUGEES, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
Xenophobic attacks: Barbaric, unAfrican
Friday, 01 July 2011 01:00
TAKING a sabbatical and retreating to the village after a year or so of continued churning out of news stories, features, opinions and analyses for the national flagship, where this villager works with hordes of other inspiring wordsmiths, can be as soothing as it is refreshing.
Spending time on a rock along the banks of Dande River, watching some fish swim non-chalantly in the crystal clear waters, a kingfisher performing antics for its breakfast and two fish eagles perform a duet atop a riverine tree, makes this villager enjoy the fruits, peace and tranquility of Zimbabwe.
Yes, Independent Zimbabwe, for, more than three decades ago in Rhodesia, it was taboo for all villagers - elders, youngsters and yes, I mean all blacks - to cross Dande River and sit on this stone which was on the side of a white man's farm.
Yes, Andrew Pears would not allow me to cross Dande River, without beating me and everyone from my ancestry lineage.
The barren land, west of Dande River, aptly named Sipolilo (Chipuriro) Tribal Trust Land, now the land of milk, honey and dust or Guruve, if you like is where he belonged, and it was a dream to cross the Dande River eastwards. It was a no go area.
While sitting on the stone, one question crossed this villager's mind. Could he be equally safe if he sat on a stone on the other side of the Limpopo River?
Limpopo and Dande are rivers in Africa and so are Zambezi, Nile, Niger, Tungwi, Tugwana, Chobe or Musengezi, Bubi and Ruya, among others.
Is a river not a river? Are Africans not Africans, wherever they are? It is courtesy of Zimbabwe's land reform programme that today this villager owns the land, till and rest on any corner and enjoy the river breeze.
This villager, who is so used to reading and writing had decided not to vomit his ink this week, taking time off to spend moments, between the river bank and the village soothsayer's hovel, learning to throw bones.
The ability to foretell the future seems fascinating but, I had to abandon that lesson because of South Africa. South Africa . . . South Africa . . . South Africa. This South Africa, former apartheid South Africa now attacking black Zimbabweans because they belong to the other side of the Limpopo and are therefore not entitled to eke a living from Azania.
It was the news from the Rainbow Nation, which, unlike the beautiful hues, is not so multi-hued when it comes to accepting African people from neighbouring countries.
South Africa remains a thorn in the villager's flesh. For a country born out of a revolution, in which Zimbabwe played a vital role and, for a country run by a revolutionary party, which should be the vanguard of Africanism, to have its cadres militantly engage in xenophobic attacks on neighbours is not only shocking but barbaric.
For victims of apartheid to accept being dragged to court in their own country by their former oppressors for singing the songs that drove and oiled their revolution against the same oppressors and then fail to co-habit with fellow Africans, just because they come from across the river is not only stupid but unimaginable.
It is silly to kill each other based on the boundaries, imposed on us by westerners.
Was it not the hodgepodge and mishmash of Euro-centric boundaries born in yonder Berlin in 1884 that imposed the boundaries on us?
So, can we kill each other so badly because one comes from across the river. What difference does it make to come from across Dande River or Limpopo River? Are these not mere geomorphological features on one continent?
The village soothsayer, that ageless fountain of wisdom, says the South Africans are being too myopic in that they still need Zimbabweans in the same manner they needed them during their struggle.
"South Africa has not yet started the struggle to economically emancipate its people so they are very disgruntled.
"Unlike in Zimbabwe where the black majority have taken the reigns of political and economic power, black South Africans are still dazzled by the rainbow, confused by their poverty and still insignificantly participating in national economics.
"Are we not being not being forgetful? Are we not having short memories? Vendas are Mapungubwe. Are the Zulus, Xhosa, Swatis, Ndebele not of Nguni ancestry lineage? Why should the Limpopo River mean so much in terms of dividing us the people of these two countries?
"Zimbabwe was bombed, ask those who were in Avondale, by South African mercenaries for supporting the liberation movements and they cannot just payback by unleashing xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans.
"Sooner than later, the black South African will know where to vent their anger for they are stuck in poverty, while respecting a rainbow of hunger, dehumanisation and abject poverty. What is the purpose of this rainbow save to keep the minority's hegemony on economic power.
"Soon, South Africa will explode and I mean soon, over the land issue. We changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe but they could not change to Azania to please the West. Soon, I said soon . . .,'' contends the soothsayer.
It is a trite but true observation that xenophobic attacks are callous, barbaric, inhuman and unAfrican.
The nonsense must stop now and Africans must live as one, for they are all victims of colonialism and neo-colonialism, and are all still licking wounds from the humiliation and brutality they suffered in colonial Africa.
Instead of xenophobic attacks, Afri-cans must be united to the marrow.
isadore.guvamombe@zimpapers.co.zw
Labels: PANAFRICANISM, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
SA probes xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans
Monday, 27 June 2011 01:00
From Thupeyo Muleya in POLOKWANE, South Africa
THE South African Limpopo provincial government has set up a team to investigate and deal with issues of xenophobic attacks against Zimbabweans that occurred last week.
It also emerged that about 28 Zimbabweans - among them toddlers - have sought refuge at Seshego Police Station, while unconfirmed reports indicate that over 1 000 of them were hiding in the bushes.
The attacks, which claimed the life of a Zimbabwean, Godfrey Sibanda who was stoned to death by rowdy youths led by ANC councillor Tebogo Mojapilo, has left many Zimbabweans in Seshego, northwest of Polokwane, living in fear.
Houses belonging to Zimbabweans were torched during the skirmishes. Twelve suspects - including the councillor - have since been arrested in connection with the attacks and were granted R600 bail each by the Polokwane Magistrates' Court.
They will appear in court on August 16 for trial.
The task team, which was created on Monday last week and chaired by Colonel Frank Ngobeni of the South African police services, comprises stakeholders from Red Cross, South African police, Polokwane Disaster
Committee, UN Human Rights Commission and Capricorn District Management.
Red Cross society's Capricorn district branch co-ordina-tor, Mr Alphens Mabina, said the issue facing the Zimba-bweans needed a multi-sectoral approach adding that they were working towards finding a lasting solution.
He said: "With the assistance of the Limpopo provincial government, we have come up with a task team to investigate and work towards finding a solution to the problems facing foreign nationals in this city.
"We are actually surprised by such an act. We didn't expect such unruly behaviour considering that we are all Africans and this place is for all who want to live in it.
"At the moment we are keeping the affected families at Seshego Police Station where a number of organisations have donated food, clothing and blankets.
"The task team is working towards integrating them into the community and so far the UN Refugee centre in Musina has indicated that they are willing to facilitate transportation to either Zimbabwe or Musina refugee centre to those willing.
"We hope to arrive at a solution soon and as the Red Cross Society we don't condone such behaviour. You will realise that we are always on constant touch with our volunteers in these affected areas to check on the situation there every day.
"It has also emerged that the majority of these victims had their travel documents and other valuables burnt and destroyed during the disturbances and we are willing to assist them to apply for asylum at the Home Affairs department if they so wish" he said.
Seshego police spokesman, Warrant Officer Mathomane Molefo, said they had
deployed enough manpower to monitor the situation in the area.
"The situation has calmed down but we are not taking any chances. We will continue to engage the community and the victims in a bid to ensure that these people live in harmony.
"This is an act by overzealous criminals and is short of anything next to xenophobia. We have a number of anti crime awareness campaigns around the town that are in progress and we believe this will go a long way in solving this problem.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the requisite shelter to keep these victims here for good and we have agreed as the task team that by 15 July we must have quelled the situation", he said.
He said they also had a challenge in repatriating Godfrey Sibanda's body to Zimbabwe as his relatives had no capacity and the Zimbabwe Consulate had indicated they had no budget to that effect.
Meanwhile, Limpopo ANC has since denounced that attacks on foreigners, saying they should be condemned.
In a statement last Friday, the ANC provincial spokesperson, Mr David Masondo, said:
"The ANC notes the arrest of our ward councilor in Seshego, whom it is alleged has been involved in the attacks of Zimbabwean nationals. The ANC upholds the principle of innocent until proven guilty. For this reason, the charged councilor remains innocent until the court of law finds the councillor guilty. We reiterate that no one is above the law and any person, including our ANC members, found violating the law should be punished accordingly. We call on our communities not to the law onto their hands," he said.
Labels: XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
MMD Bulaya councillor resigns to join UPND
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Wed 03 Mar. 2010, 03:20 CAT
MMD Bulaya Ward councillor Mwansa Kunda has resigned from the ruling party to join the UPND. In an interview after his release on bail from Kamfinsa State Prison where he was remanded for two weeks, Kunda advised Lufwanyama member of parliament Dr Lwipa Puma to
learn to appreciate those that put him where he is.
Kunda was remanded after
the immigration department arrested him on grounds that he was a Congolese national who stayed in Zambia illegally.
He recently appeared in the Kitwe magistrates’ court and pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawful stay in Zambia contrary to section 23 (3) of the immigration and deportation Act Cap 123 of the Laws of Zambia as read with section 30(1) of Act number 25 of 1997.
Kunda was granted a K2 million cash bail with two working sureties but bail conditions were only met yesterday.
“I can’t say much. I campaigned very hard for Dr Puma and I don’t deserve to be treated in this manner… I can’t say much. I have resigned from MMD and joined UPND. Even my family can’t allow me to continue being in MMD,” he said.
“You can’t take someone to prison. Taking someone to prison is as good as killing him.”
Kunda declared that he would re-contest the Bulaya ward seat on the UPND ticket and rated his chances of scooping it as high.
He said MMD’s chances of retaining the ward were very slim adding that: “If a crocodile tells you that the hippo is sick, you’ve got to believe it because the crocodile lives in water together with the hippo.”
He complained that his stay in prison was not easy especially that he left his family suffering.
“Kwali ukusampa ifyakulya nokusumwa ne nda (We were scrambling for food and being bitten by lice – in Kamfinsa prison),” Kunda added.
He said no MMD member visited him for the period he was in prison.
He charged that Dr Puma was not a good leader because he always kept grudges.
Kunda said whenever Dr Puma was advised about something during council meetings, he always took it personal.
Meanwhile, Kunda urged other politicians to be brave and brace themselves for political persecutions.
And Kunda’s wife, Mirriam, supported her husband.
And UPND Lufwanyama District chairman Justin Mwalikwa welcomed Mwansa’s resignation from MMD and pledged to support him.
Labels: LWIPI PUMA, MMD, MWANSA KUNDA, POLITICS, UPND, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
1,500 Zimbabweans flee S.Africa
AFP/TZG
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:45:00 +0000
ABOUT 1,500 Zimbabwean migrants have fled their homes in a shantytown in rural South Africa, after tensions erupted with locals over competition for farm jobs, police said Wednesday.
South Africans on Tuesday physically prevented Zimbabweans workers from getting on to trucks taking them to jobs in the grapelands around De Doorns, about 140 kilometres (85 miles) northeast of Cape Town, said senior police superintendent Hendrik Olivier.
Fearing the incident could lead to further attacks, the Zimbabweans fled their shacks and turned to local authorities. Emergency services have set up a camp for the migrants at a local sports field, he said.
"We put up an internal displaced people camp at the sports field," he said. "We put up tents and toilets."
He said the tensions erupted over "the limited resources that are available in the rural areas, and also the limited work opportunities."
Many of the Zimbabweans had seasonal jobs tending grape vines, but South Africans accused them of taking away their work by agreeing to longer hours and lower wages.
The incident sparked sharp memories of the xenophobic violence that rocked the nation in May 2008, in which more than 60 people were killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes -- many of whom relocated to camps that have since closed.
Some of the Zimbabweans had lived in the area for up to three years. Some of their shacks were knocked down by angry neighbours, but many of the Zimbabweans were renting the shacks from South Africans, he added.
Tensions flared in the small Hex River Valley town over the weekend, when local farmworkers drove about 70 Zimbabweans out of their homes.
They are claiming that farmers prefer to employ Zimbabweans, who they allege accept less money to work.
Braam Hanekom from the People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop), an organisation that fights for the rights of foreign nationals, said a committee of 12 Zimbabwean representatives had been elected to meet the local farmers' association.
Hanekom said the Zimbabwean farmworkers had refused to return to work until their safety - and proper labour conditions - were guaranteed.
"People are concerned about the safety issues of returning to work and there appears to be a lot of concern about some of the labour brokers and contractors," he said.
"For long-term reintegration, people want to know what their rights are," Hanekom said.
For local farmworkers, it was business as usual: they lined the streets of Stofland and Ekuphumeleni to be collected and driven to various farms.
- AFP/TZG
Labels: REFUGEES, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA, ZIMBABWE
Read more...
Five in custody over death of 7 Zimbabwean in SA
Newnet/TZG
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:01:00 +0000
FIVE people have been arrested and are in police custody in South Africa over the death of seven Zimbabwean nationals killed when their shack was set alight on Saturday evening.
One of the five suspects appeared before the court Wednesday and is being charged with arson and murder.
Investigations are still continuing to bring to book the rest of the members of the gang
Authorities say the incident which authorities believe is criminal occurred in a Wine-farming area, some 150 kilometres north of Cape Town.
The Consul-General in the Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa Mr. Mapanga said investigations by embassy and the South African authorities revealed that the incident started as an attempted robbery on two Zimbabwean nationals.
The two Zimbabweans ran away and sought assistance from a shack belonging to their compatriots and a skirmish arose between the attackers and the occupants of the shack.
The robbers are believed to have temporarily retreated only to return later with a reinforced group of about 10 to 15 people.
The robbers doused the shack with an inflammable liquid that looked like fuel and set it alight.
The report says that only one person managed to bolt out of the burning house while 7 occupants were burnt beyond recognition.
Authorities are withholding the names of the victims until DNA tests are completed to establish the identities of the victims.
Labels: SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
S/African govt gives xenophobia victims ultimatum to get permits
By Maluba Jere
Monday July 21, 2008 [04:00]
THE South African government has given displaced xenophobia victims including over 40 Zambians up to today to register for six months temporary resident permits or face immediate deportation to their countries. Second secretary for press at the Zambian High Commission in South Africa, Philip Chirwa stated that according to a circular addressed to all the residents of Rifle Range Site Camp, the South African government made it clear that the ongoing registration exercise was compulsory for all the residents at the site regardless of the status.
"This came to light at the weekend when officials from the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria visited the Rifle Range site Camp south of Johannesburg to check on Zambian nationals following press reports that the xenophobia victims at the camp had clashed with police last Thursday after they had taken four security guards hostage overnight in an office the previous day," he stated.
Chirwa explained that some Zambians were earlier reluctant to register for the temporary resident permits because they suspected that the South African government was trying to trick them into finding a way of deporting them.
"However, after the officials explained the situation to them, including the consequences of not abiding by the laws of South Africa, they agreed to register for the permits and promised to urge their colleagues, who were not present at the time to do the same," he stated.
Chirwa stated that the purpose of the registration was to facilitate assistance and ensure access to the camp.
He said those that registered for the permits would be reintegrated into local communities who he said were ready and willing to accept them back.
"More importantly, registration would provide legal protection to the holders of such permits," stated Chirwa. "When a local community refuses to accept the foreigners back, the government will look for an alternative place of their choice for them."
Chirwa added that failure to register would have negative consequences including termination of assistance and protection by government and could lead to their removal from the Republic of South Africa.
Over 50 people died and 65,000 were displaced in South Africa following a wave of xenophobic attacks on foreigners in May.
The attacks, which started in Johannesburg's Alexandra Township, spread to seven of South Africa's nine provinces.
Labels: SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
1 655 Malawian migrants evacuated from SA
AFP
BLANTYRE. More than half of the 3 000 Malawian nationals displaced by the violence that targeted foreigners in South Africa in May have since been evacuated, a senior official has said. "So far we have evacuated 1 655 Malawians. Although the number of returnees has dropped, the programme to evacuate more Malawians is still on," Malawian information ministry official Edson Mwanvani said.
Up to 3 000 Malawians registered to return home after the attacks on immigrants, mainly in Johannesburg, in which over 60 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced.
At the height of the evacuation, some 320 people returned home everyday in buses hired by the Malawi government.
A Malawian citizen was shot dead in Johannesburg at the onset of the attacks which saw South Africans driving foreigners out of townships, accusing immigrants of stealing their jobs and blaming them for high crime rates.
Mobs destroyed homes and looted immigrant-owned shops, while some victims were burned alive.
At least 21 of the 62 people killed were South African, though officials have not provided an explanation for why they would have been targeted.
It was not clear whether any were South Africans of foreign origin.
Tens of thousands of people were displaced in the violence, first fleeing to shelters and police stations, then to camps set up by the government. — AFP.
Labels: MALAWI, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
Matoka attributes xenophobia to economic marginalization
By Agness Changala
Saturday June 28, 2008 [04:01]
THE violence in South Africa should be a reminder that no one should be left behind as a country achieves national prosperity, University of Zambia Development Studies lecturer Dr Peter Matoka has said. During the discussion organised by Chevening Alumni Association (CAA) at the British Council whose theme was 'Xenophobia:
economic or conflict', Dr Matoka said it was everyone's obligation to ensure that the less fortunate in society did not feel economically marginalised because that resulted in xenophobia.
"The xenophobic attacks in South Africa, callous and inhuman as they were, are a chilling reminder to all of us that we have an obligation to ensure that our less fortunate brothers and sisters in society must not feel left behind even as we strive to achieve national prosperity," he said.
Dr Matoka said there was need to collectively take measures that would guarantee those families, communities and the country that they would not witness the horrors of xenophobia again.
He said it was naïve and reckless to assume that the occurrences of xenophobia in other countries was a problem which the affected countries would grapple with and contend.
Dr Matoka added that xenophobia knew no borders and its fault line appeared to be spreading even to the most hospitable countries.
He said racial attacks had the capacity to turn a country's well-intended economic and social policies into a fertile breeding ground for conflict.
He urged Zambians to be reminded of the eagle on the flag because it depicted their ability to soar above the challenges faced including xenophobia.
And former Zambezi East UPND member of parliament Maxwell Mukwakwa, who was in the audience, expressed disappointment with the violence in South Africa.
Mukwakwa said African countries must learn to pay tribute to countries that helped them get liberated.
South African High Commissioner to Zambia Moses Chikane partly attributed the xenophobic attacks in that country to economic marginalisation.
British High Commissioner to Zambia Alistair Harrison said political leaders must make sensible decisions to address the problem of xenophobia as it had the capacity to destroy the good relations at regional and continental level.
Labels: ECONOMY, PETER MATOKA, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
Xenophobia is not the answer
EDITOR — Anyone familiar with political developments in South Africa will not be surprised by the outbreak of xenophobia in the black community. President Thabo Mbeki is on record saying his anguish was what to do when he has two economies; one which is of the First World while the other is of the Third World. What he was referring to as the First World is the one dominated by five million mainly whites while the third world one is mainly for 40 million blacks.
The problem has been that about 70 000 blacks have been assimilated into the First World economy and these are mainly from the African National Congress while the rest are trying to climb the ladder without success.
As the whole of Africa is embroiled in one form of civil unrest or the other, South Africa offered a safe haven for many displaced foreign blacks.
But many people did not understand that black South Africans have also been refugees stuck in Bantustans and were now returning home after the first democratic elections in 1994.
It is now competition for jobs and space between the South Africans from the Bantustans and foreign blacks especially from the neighbouring countries whose economies bore the brunt of a South African apartheid government which did not like the political leadership of those countries.
By destroying the economies of neighbouring countries for their support of black South African political movements, the apartheid regime was sowing the seeds of migrant labour into South Africa which now has turned this competition for space and a few jobs in the South African economy into xenophobia.
If apartheid South Africa had left the independent states surrounding it to develop their economies, there would never been any migration of foreign blacks into South Africa.
Xenophobia is not the answer for those who find themselves in the Third World economy.
Even if the black foreigners returned to their countries, those in the Third World economy would still fight among themselves and the violence may spread to those enjoying the First World economy, whites and a few affluent blacks.
African Economist.
Harare.
Labels: SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA, ZIMBABWE
Read more...
Who are next victims of xenophobia?
By Itayi Garande
THE current xenophobic attacks in South Africa are a bad reminder on the history of the country and the nature in which they are being carried out is very disturbing. Young South Africans, between 16-25 years are killing "foreigners", including Mozambicans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians and many others, using methods said to have been employed by military men in the Rhodesian security forces and also employed during the apartheid era.
One of the methods we saw used by these young people was "necklacing" (that is, the burning to death of selected individuals, with the aid of inflammable liquid and/or vehicle tyres).
According to film maker and presenter (then reporting for the South African Broadcasting Corporation) Max du Preez:
"Between September 1984 and August 1989, 771 people were ‘necklaced’ or doused with fuel and burnt to death. The myth perpetuated by the state then was that this was an example of African brutality. The truth we know now, is that this repulsive form of killing was first started by white Rhodesian security forces in the 1970s and then brought to South Africa by the security police . . ."
However, in 1997 SABC was found guilty of contravening the Broadcasting Code by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa for publishing that statement.
This was after a complaint by the Flame Lily Foundation — "a non-profit organisation . . . run for Rhodesians by Rhodesians", according to its website.
Du Preez’s statement was made after footage of a woman being burnt, stoned and kicked to death by a mob in South Africa was shown on SABC.
What is surprising is that the same method talked about then is now being used — 11 years later — by young people who were barely adults in 1984-89.
This method has been in existence for a long time in South Africa. The practice was employed during disturbances in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, and was used against alleged criminals by "people’s courts" established in black townships as a means of circumventing the apartheid judicial system.
"Necklacing" was also used to punish members of the black community who were perceived to be collaborators of the apartheid regime. These included black policemen, town councillors and others, as well as their relatives and associates. The practice was frequently carried out in the name of the African National Congress, although the ANC officially condemned the practice.
At the last ANC congress we saw their youths drunk, aggressive and openly displaying firearms and read about the sexual harassment that went on.
We saw the young thugs heckle Mosioua Lekota, South Africa’s Minister of Defence, who was jailed at Robben Island Prison for challenging apartheid.
The linking of the current problems in South Africa should be done cautiously. These youths are not only manipulated by "dark forces", but are also impatient with the current pace at which wealth is being distributed in an "independent" South Africa.
The pictures we see in South Africa today are not new.
What is new are the targets.
In 1985, we saw the pictures of Maki Skosana — "Her body had been scorched by fire and some broken pieces of glass had been inserted into her vagina," according to an investigating committee.
"After having seen so many ‘necklacings’ on the news, it occurs to me that either many others were being performed (off camera as it were) and this was just the tip of the iceberg, or that the presence of the camera completed the last requirement, and acted as a catalyst in this terrible reaction," said photojournalist Kevin Carter in the mid-1980s.
Carter — "one of the integrands of a group called the Bang-Bang Club, a group of four friends, photojournalists that dedicated themselves to exposing to the eyes of the world the brutal regime of South African apartheid" — later committed suicide two months after he received a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for a "necklacing" photograph.
He was 33 years old and left a goodbye note:
"I am depressed . . . without phone . . . money for rent . . . money for child support . . . money for debts . . . money! . . . I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain . . . of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners . . . I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."
Ken Oosterbroek was his friend and member of the Bang-Bang Club who was shot while covering a firefight outside Johannesburg. So the violence in South Africa is not new. The players are many; the agendas are multifarious; and the outcomes are unpredictable.
Those who send us the images help spread consciousness, but should do more than that. They should report as accurately and responsibly as possible.
In their pursuit of the best image, they should protect themselves and the community they wish to inform; and make sure that they do not perpetuate and encourage more violence.
There is a new moral dilemma in media today. For example, how far should one go to pursue images like the ones we are inundated with daily? When should journalists put aside their impartiality and get involved in reducing the violence, or protecting victims of violence?
Should a journalist continue filming a burning man?
Should a journalist apportion blame?
And when should a journalist’s assessment of the problem start?
These are the questions we should be asking when tackling xenophobic attacks in South Africa, which are not a new phenomenon but whose victims keep changing.
Who are the next victims?
This is a pertinent question when we see "necklacing" and violence permeating popular culture and our everyday politics; and when we are unsure or do not care to find out the crux of the problem.
In an episode of the Canadian/South African sci-fi series Charlie Jade, executives from Vexcor threaten Charlie’s friend Karl with necklacing if he does not give them information. Incidentally, this scene takes place in Cape Town. In the opening scene of the film "Bopha", an African traitor is "necklaced" by a mob of other Africans.
In the movie "Tears of the Sun", Bruce Willis’ sniper shoots a man who is in the process of "necklacing" a man in the name of ethnic cleansing. He is referred to as "the Zippo man" because of the "Zippo" lighter he was brandishing.
When opposition leaders say, "I have argued for years that the greatest threat of the crisis in Zimbabwe was not here (Zimbabwe), but in South Africa where despite the disparity in size, we are capable of destabilising that country very effectively," should we then say an age-old problem has been created by newcomers? — www.talkzimbabwe.com
itayi@talkzimbabwe.com
Labels: SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
Hansungule attributes SA attacks to state failure
By Brighton Phiri
Monday June 02, 2008 [04:01]
THE xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa are a classical case of state failure, Professor Michelo Hansungule has said. And Prof Hansungule said President Levy Mwanawasa's reconciliation with opposition Patriotic Front (PF) president, Michael Sata is a marriage of convenience. Commenting on the xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa, which have left over 50 people dead and 25,000 displaced, Prof Hansungule, who is law lecturer at University of Pretoria, said the violence confirmed that the state never existed in South Africa's townships.
"What is happening is classical case of state failure. There is no state in the townships. It is a complete shame," he said.
Prof Hansungule wondered why South African President Thabo Mbeki only condemned the violence 14 days after a lot of people had shed their lives.
"He reacted, I believe, only because the Sunday Times publicly demanded for his dismissal or resignation. For a man who talks about renaissance and all that, his personal style of governance is incredibly ineffective," Prof Hansungule said.
The attacks, which started on May 11 in Johannesburg's Alexandra, have spread to seven of South Africa's nine provinces.
On Friday, acting home affairs minister George Mpombo said more than 100 Zambians were trapped in various camps following the violent attacks.
On Saturday, Zambia's High Commissioner to South Africa Leslie Mbula said the number of Zambian nationals affected by the attacks had reached 114 following a discovery of eight people at the temporary shelters set up in various parts of Johannesburg.
High Commissioner Mbula said apart from damage to property, there had been no deaths or serious injuries reported among the Zambian community.
According to the mission, there are 57 Zambians sheltering at Jeppe Police Station, 44 at Cleveland Police Station, one at Alexandra Police Station, eight at Primrose Methodist Church and four at Johannesburg Central Methodist Church.
High Commissioner Mbula said of the 114, 30 had expressed willingness to return to Zambia and that the mission was negotiating with bus owners to see how they could be assisted.
Hundreds of Mozambicans and Malawians have since returned to their countries while the Zimbabwean government has sent buses and trucks to repatriate that country's victims who are the majority.
And on President Mwanawasa and Sata's reconciliation, Prof. Hansungule said the sudden 'marriage' between the two leaders was nothing more than a marriage of convenience.
"In my life, I have never believed politicians, never. If they can 'marry' so easily after so many years of personal outbursts against each other on things only themselves know about and can understand, I have no doubt they can break as easily as they connected," said Prof. Hansungule. "I think it is important for people not to be overly concerned about what they do as individuals towards each other.
The most important thing is how to think beyond each one of us, how to think Zambia! If there are any differences and there should be, they should be on big things like the policy and strategy against poverty or governance. They say there are no permanent enemies in politics. If this is the case, then it follows there are no permanent friends either."
Labels: MICHELO HASUNGULE, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
'Xenophobic attacks affecting Zambians living in SA'
By Patson Chilemba
Saturday May 31, 2008 [04:00]
ACTING home affairs minister George Mpombo yesterday said 46 Zambians living in South Africa have been affected by the xenophobic attacks in that country. Addressing the press, Mpombo, who is also defence minister, said the government was in touch with the Zambian High Commission in South Africa to verify reports and secure the 46 Zambians reported to be in the camps.
Mpombo said the governement was extremely worried about the unfortunate situation.
He said the government was working on financial and logistical arrangements to ensure that Zambian nationals affected were evacuated from South Africa.
Mpombo said the scale of brutality in South Africa was incredible and that it was turnishing the image of Africa.
Over 50 people have died and 25,000 displaced following xenophobic attacks against foreigners since May 11. The attacks have spread to seven of South Africa's nine provinces.
And Mpombo also said 163 Zimbabwean drivers from SABOT company in Zimbabwe had staged industrial action in Zambia.
Mpombo said the government was against this action as it was a violation of both private and public international laws.
He said the drivers would be repatriated back to Zimbabwe because Zambia was not part of the political problems in that country.
Mpombo further said the country had received 10 families from Zimbabwe who were seeking political asylum.
Mpombo said the government was in the process of considering and verifying their applications.
Labels: GEORGE MPOMBO, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
West responsible for food crisis
EDITOR — Economic and social developments in the world are vindicating Zanu-PF’s policies of self-reliance and economic empowerment. The Internet is full of stories on world food prices and the ever rising price of oil. Our Government’s policies are geared at empowering the generality of indigenous Zimbabweans be it through education or access to the factors of production so that they can sustain themselves anywhere, anytime.
While Western countries have blocked our lines of credit and balance of payments support with their illegal sanctions, we should bear in mind that it is the West’s racist policies that are responsible for decreased food production in the world.
The xenophobia manifesting itself in South Africa might soon find expression in Western countries where rightwing politicians, like Nicholas Sarkozy, are being elected for their exclusionist policies, and it is incumbent on us Zimbabweans to work for the development of our country.
Already, the National Party in the UK has got a seat on the London Council for the first time, a party that is against African immigrants.
The opposition was busy urging people to oppose the Government on land, yet they are busy publishing their ‘‘agricultural policies’’ on the Internet.
Both factions of the MDC must own up and admit that the Government was right to prioritise investment in agriculture to ensure food self-sufficiency.
Voters should understand Zanu-PF’s message for the run-off, it is about guaranteeing the future of our children, retaining skills within the country for socioeconomic development, capacitating industry and agriculture, in short addressing the bread and butter issues by ensuring that a solid economic base is laid out.
Brian Shava.
Mufakose.
Harare.
Labels: INFLATION, XENOPHOBIA, ZIMBABWE
Read more...
25,000 Zimbabweans fleeing South Africa head for Zambia
By Bivan Saluseki
Wednesday May 28, 2008 [04:00]
ABOUT 25,000 Zimbabweans fleeing the xenophobic violence in South Africa are headed for Zambia. Information minister Mike Mulongoti yesterday confirmed that the government was making arrangements to receive them. The Zimbabweans are headed for Zambia via Botswana in order to avoid passing through Zimbabwe.
Mulongoti said under the international law on migration, it made it obligatory for a UN member state to receive those seeking asylum. He said Zambia, as a UN member state, was under obligation to offer asylum to refugees.
Red Cross Society (RCS) director for Southern Africa, Francoise Le Goff, told AFP on Monday that RCS teams in Zambia were expecting the arrival of 25,000 Zimbabweans, or 5,000 families.
“At least 5,500 Zimbabweans have had assistance to Mozambique," she added, and 342 had been received in centres near the border with Botswana. About three million Zimbabweans are believed to be in South Africa.
And Mulongoti said Zambia was dismayed at the unwarranted attacks reported in the Zimbabwean government media recently.
Recently, Zimbabwe's Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa expressed disappointment with President Mwanawasa's failure as SADC chairperson to call on Britain and its Western allies to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Mulongoti said Zambia had stood by Zimbabwe's side bilaterally as well as within the framework of SADC, the African Union and internationally.
Mulongoti said President Mwanawasa had expressed solidarity with Zimbabwe by ensuring that President Mugabe attended the Africa-European Union Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
Labels: SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA, ZIMBABWE
Read more...
Xenophobic attacks are a sad indictment on SA,says Levy
By Mwala Kalaluka
Tuesday May 27, 2008 [04:00]
PRESIDENT Levy Mwanawasa has said the xenophobic attacks on foreigners are a sad indictment on South Africa. Addressing the press at Lusaka International Airport before departing for Japan on Sunday, President Mwanawasa said people perpetrating such attacks should reflect on their actions to see whether they were in line with Africa's goal for unity.
"It is unfortunate and on behalf of Zambians and SADC region, I can only appeal for sense among the criminal elements in South Africa to reflect and to think twice whether their behaviour is in line with the unity we are talking about in Africa," President Mwanawasa said.
"This is why some of us have been against immediate implementation of a united Africa...United Government of Africa, because if things like these when you talk about freedom of movement of persons, how is that freedom of movement of persons going to be possible? Unless our people can accept the fact that we are all Africans and we should see each other as brothers and sisters."
He said people from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other countries throughout Africa had trekked to South Africa to look for employment and to do business, among other things and that it was sad they were being treated in such a manner.
"Most of them have permits to stay in that country; those without permits, there are laws on how illegal immigrants are dealt with. Now, those with permits they are there because the South African government felt that it could accommodate them; it needed them," President Mwanawasa said. "Now, it must be made clear that the freedom of South Africa was obtained as collective effort between the South Africans themselves and the neighbouring countries."
He said Zambia in particular contributed very much to that country's liberation.
"South Africans today might consider themselves clever, but there will be a time in the future when they will need the people of the SADC and it will be very sad indeed if we were to shun them," President Mwanawasa said.
"What they should also remember is that so many of their nationals are still resident, working and doing business in Zambia, they are not being harassed. There are so many of their nationals in the various countries in this region, they are working and doing business, no one is harassing them."
At least 50 people have died and over 25,000 displaced after a wave of attacks on foreigners in Johannesburg's Alexandra, which have even spread to seven of South Africa's nine provinces.
And President Mwanawasa turned down requests by the University of Zambia Students' Union (UNZASU) to meet him and negotiate the increase of students' meal allowances.
President Mwanawasa said he would not meet the students over the issue that had sparked protests because they were only interested in fighting.
He asked the students to explain why they had opted to block his motorcade, which was diverted into Kamloops Road from the Great East Road, on his return from Mansa last Thursday.
Asked if his government had difficulties resolving the problems at UNZA, President Mwanawasa said the students were the ones with problems and not the government.
"What's happening at UNZA is not helping at all. Anything, which goes wrong, the only answer they consider is actually to throw stones and to engage in all acts of violence.
That motorist who drives across the university is innocent," President Mwanawasa said. "I was coming from Mansa the other day, I had to divert my motorcade and we went to Kalingalinga because the students had blocked the way, because they heard that the President was coming. Now, what was the intention? In as far as I am concerned, I am innocent."
He asked the students at UNZA to explain if they would have regarded themselves as heroes had he been injured by the obstacles they would have thrown and placed along his route.
"After they had blocked my motorcade, I received a message that the students and their representatives wanted to come and meet me so that they can negotiate. I am not going to see them, the students, because what they want is to fight," he said. "The money, which we give to the students is what we can afford, we are not going to print money to satisfy the students.
Those who feel that we are being unfair in the money which is given to the university, please, let them resign and go home so that they can leave peaceful and hardworking students to study."
President Mwanawasa said university students were sent to study and not to start heaping stones with which to fight with.
"It is unfortunate that they were injured and we are lucky, we could have lost a life. Is it really necessary that they should expose themselves in that manner? The answer is that we are not going to pay the students more than we have budgeted for; that is full stop," he said.
President Mwanawasa however said the government regrets the fact that police used live bullets in dispersing the riotous students.
"Now, I asked why it was necessary to use live bullets, I was told that they ran out of teargas and therefore decided to charge with live bullets," he narrated. "That excuse was very stupid...That excuse was very stupid; it would have been better for the police to run away instead of aiming to shoot."
He said the government was investigating what prompted the officer who discharged those live bullets to shoot at a time when he did and action would be taken.
"But there is a strong mitigating factor that the students provoked the situation. If they have a grievance to make, they should choose some other peaceful way," President Mwanawasa said. "The students at University of Zambia, Copperbelt University are reasonably paid. All government-sponsored students are paid on average more than the average general worker in government."
He said it was high time students recognised the taxpayers' sacrifice towards their education.
"We want to see them educated so that they can help us develop this nation," President Mwanawasa said.
President Mwanawasa is attending The International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Japan.
Labels: MWANAWASA, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
Apartheid returns to haunt SA
By Sifelani Tsiko
THE legacy of skewed economic and social apartheid policies came full circle to haunt South Africa recently following a wave of ill-treatment and violent malpractices on foreigners mainly in black townships which have suffered decades of neglect and marginalisation.
Growing poverty and unemployment levels buffeted by decades of skewed apartheid policies forced South Africans to explode and vent their frustrations on foreigners, particularly Zimbabweans, Malawians, Mozambicans, Somalis, Nigerians and other nationals.
These foreigners were targeted by mobs carrying machetes and guns in some of Johannesburg’s poorest areas over the past two weeks in a new wave of violence that has led to the death of more than 40 people, displaced more than 3 000 others who were left destitute.
More than 500 people have sought refuge at police stations in Johannesburg, Red Cross centres as well as diplomatic missions inside South Africa.
The attacks are spreading like veldfire in most poor townships and the police are being overwhelmed, pushing back South Africa into the horrible days of apartheid.
On the surface of this latest wave of violence, angry South Africans accused foreigners of taking up scarce jobs and housing.
The Western media and the white-dominated media inside South Africa are apparently mum on the damaging effects of apartheid policies which deprived the majority of black Africans of decent jobs, education, housing and dignity.
It is of major concern that the powerful international media and their sidekicks, the white-dominated South African Press, are harping on this latest wave of violence and feeding the world with stereotypes that read: "Look at this black government that is mismanaging the economy." This in many ways means that black people cannot run governments and create jobs for their own people.
The racist and simplistic message is: "Thabo Mbeki has failed, chuck him out." Deeper analysis of the skewed apartheid economic policies which benefited the white minority immensely and even up to now is carefully and tactically tucked underneath the carpet. No one should remember or unearth this embarrassing episode of South African history.
During the apartheid era, cheap labour was sourced from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia and other countries in Africa. The massive capital accumulated by the apartheid regime and the US and British multinationals was used to build the highly developed South African economy we see today.
The affluent white community is still enjoying the benefits resulting from this massive capital accumulation through good housing (suburban areas went largely unscathed in this latest implosion), well-funded schools, highly capitalised businesses, access to good health facilities and a whole cafeteria of benefits.
On the contrary, countries which provided South Africa with cheap labour never benefited much from the capital accumulated.
The huge disparity in terms of economic and social development between South Africa and its neighbours is all clear for all to see. South Africa was built on the sweat of black labour from all the neighbouring countries within the Southern African Development Community configuration.
Thousands of black people from this region died in South African mines without any form of compensation or even notification of relatives. Some were maimed or injured in mines all without any form of redress. The white community thrived at the expense of blacks, both inside and those coming from outside.
Blacks inside South Africa, too, never enjoyed the benefits coming with a booming economy arising out of gold and diamond mining. They were forced to live in ‘‘match box’’ houses, forced to learn in schools with no adequate learning materials and this meant that without meaningful education, they would get inferior jobs.
While apartheid was raging on, other neighbouring countries got independent and immediately rolled out education policies that widened education to the majority of their people. Countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi churned out skilled manpower which could secure jobs in these countries and was forced to trek down south.
So these nationals got the jobs while the disadvantaged South Africans were left out of the tough race for jobs. Most of the foreigners, too, had developed skills to run businesses while a handful of South African blacks were able to do so.
Skewed apartheid development policies left the entire Southern African sub-continent which fed South Africa with cheap labour largely under-developed. So today, most people in the region survive through cross-border trade and other menial jobs they get on part-time basis in South Africa. Professionals have flocked to South Africa in search of better conditions but in the process inciting the wrath of locals.
So this scenario (conflict) has been simmering for decades. This huge development gap between South Africa and its neighbours is largely to blame for this sudden explosion of tempers. Ill-treatment of foreigners has been going on for some time and the temperatures reached boiling point two weeks back when violence erupted in a poor township called Alexandra.
President Mbeki’s government has no resources to address all the symptoms of apartheid which were left unattended for decades by the white apartheid regime. So it is important for the media to strike a balance and also bring in the historical perspective of the implosion.
The violence has been roundly condemned by politicians and human rights groups.
"Communities that are in South Africa for work must be treated humanely, if they become involved in criminal cases, they must be subject to trial by competent and impartial courts," one social analyst remarked.
Says a University of Zimbabwe political analyst: "South Africa and Botswana have registered positive economic growth from the exploitation of cheap labour from countries in the region."
"Without labour from Malawi, Zambia, Angola and Zimbabwe, South Africa wouldn’t be what it is today."
He suggested that stronger economies in the region should move to support weaker neighbours through relaxation of trade and labour regulations.
"Most people in the region survive through cross-border trade and other menial jobs they get on part-time," he says.
"Closing all avenues for trade and employment will not lead us anywhere. Look at what countries in the European Union are doing. We have to move towards that."
Illegal migration has become a hot topic in the region and growing hatred and ignorance about the rights and realities of migrants has blighted human rights records for the region’s two richest countries which boast about democracy.
Analysts cite economic recession, poor investments, unemployment and search for better living standards as the major reason for migration.
Until economies in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique improve Botswana and South Africa will have to contend with frustrations of having to deport someone today only for them to return two or three days later.
It’s a vicious cycle.
While I do not condone acts of violence against foreigners, it is only proper for the mainstream Western media to see the brutal and skewed apartheid policies as the major cause for the explosion of hate rather than the superficial "violence sells" reports we are being fed today.
They can, in addition to this, also bring in similar challenges facing other regions of the world and make useful comparisons that can aid the understanding of global migration.
Migration is both a complex issue for analysis and serious probe.
According to the International Labour Organisation, it is difficult to give an accurate number of migrants seeking employment opportunities worldwide.
But it estimates that migrants for employment accounted for 90 million people living legally and illegally in a country other than theirs.
A study carried out by the United Nations in 218 countries showed that in 1965 there were 75 million people living outside their country of origin or both.
The figure increased to 120 million people in 1990. In 1997 the figure was estimated to have hit 140 million. When apartheid’s contribution to this crisis is worked out and other important comparison made, policymakers and people in general can draw useful lessons that can help reduce what the Western world calls xenophobia.
Labels: SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
UDM: Reveal 'third force' information
Johannesburg, South Africa
25 May 2008 01:11
The government should appoint a commission of inquiry to probe the xenophobic attacks that have claimed at least 50 lives and left thousands of people homeless, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) said on Sunday. UDM president Bantu Holomisa said there was a need for a transparent inquiry that would analyse the attacks and
remove suspicions that they were "deliberate and orchestrated”.
"The key here would be to remove any kind of suspicion that this thing was unleashed deliberately and orchestrated by whoever. Ministers are already telling us there is a third force. Let them bring that evidence to the commission."
Holomisa said there was a need for the inquiry to visit countries where people had been repatriated to, and gather evidence and testimonies from victims of the attacks. Holomisa was addressing the Twelve Apostles Church in Bloemfontein to mark Africa Day.
Holomisa called on churches to constantly monitor political leaders and scrutinise the work they were doing.
He said religious leaders played a crucial role in South Africa before 1994, but were shunned by politicians after the elections.
"Immediately after that watershed moment in our history, the political leaders immediately shunned the religious leaders and disowned their role, under the pretext that they had been elected democratically to lead the country," Holomisa said.
He reiterated his call for a national convention that would allow all key players to discuss national issues.
He said the convention should look at social cohesion, economic policies, poverty and crime.
ANC leaders to visit hots spots
Meanwhile, ANC president Jacob Zuma and senior party leaders will hold programmes of engagement with communities in xenophobic hots pots across Gauteng on Sunday, the party said in a statement.
Spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso said the party's national executive committee (NEC), which met on Friday and Saturday, agreed on a programme of engagement to stem the tide of violence and restore stability in affected communities.
The programme would involve all levels of the ANC in a decisive and concerted campaign to mobilise across society to address this crisis, Rikhotso said. - Sapa
Labels: BANTU HOLOMISA, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
SA violence against foreigners upset KK
By Brighton Phiri
Monday May 26, 2008 [04:00]
DR Kenneth Kaunda yesterday revealed that he feels hurt by reports of continued xenophobic attacks and killings of foreigners in South Africa because this is against the spirit of the liberation struggle. And Dr Kaunda said Africa must soldier on to achieve economic emancipation of its people.
Commenting on the xenophobic violence in South Africa that had spread from Gauteng Province to other provinces such as Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Cape by last Thursday, Dr Kaunda said he felt disturbed with the wave of attacks and killings of foreigners in South Africa because that was against the spirit of oneness through which the founding leaders contributed towards the liberation of southern Africa.
“I feel hurt about it. I strongly feel hurt indeed because that is not the spirit in which we fought for our freedom as Africans. It is very unAfrican for one to conduct himself in such a manner,” Dr Kaunda said.
He asked South Africans perpetrating xenophobic violence to stop their actions as they were not in the interest of African unity, which the founding freedom fighters championed.
“We condemn these xenophobic attacks in strongest terms,” he said.
However, Dr Kaunda said he was comforted with the South African government’s quick response to stop the violence.
“I hope and pray that South African government’s handling of the situation will bring out something meaningful,” Dr Kaunda said.
Over 42 foreigners have been killed and over 15,000 have been displaced.
And addressing the diplomatic community accredited to Zambia during the commemoration of Africa Freedom Day yesterday, Dr Kaunda called for rededication to the cause of Africa.
“Let us rededicate ourselves to peace, social justice, economic and social development. For we need peace in order to attain sustainable economic prosperity,” he said. “We need peace to achieve regional economic integration. We need peace in order to be able to link Africa into the global economy, a mission that must be fulfilled.”
Dr Kaunda paid tribute to Africa’s founding leaders for their vision and relentless efforts to achieve liberty and forge a true sense of unity for the continent by establishing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963.
He said the founding leaders laid a firm foundation for succeeding generations to build on.
“Let us remember that our founding leaders were instrumental and inspirational in fulfilling our quest to achieve political independence. To all intents and purposes, they have passed on the torch to a new generation of leaders whose mission is to achieve economic emancipation of our continent,” he said. “On this auspicious occasion, we should once again take note of the commitment to the cause of Africa by those patriots who paid the supreme sacrifice during those dark days. They were selfless citizens of our continent with an important mission to accomplish.”
Dr Kaunda urged African leaders to do everything possible to maintain peace and unity of purpose among their countries so that together they could fulfil the people’s aspiration to achieve a higher standard of living in peace and harmony.
Labels: KENNETH KAUNDA, SOUTH AFRICA, XENOPHOBIA
Read more...
