Since the transformation of South Africa to a democracy in 1994, an estimated 7.5 million foreigners have crossed the borders into the newest African flagship country, discounting many illegal immigrants that have escaped authorities and thus the recognized figures. Since the turn of the century, it has cost the South African Government upwards of 2 million US Dollars to identify and deport illegal residents back to their countries of origin, a process that is ongoing due to the rapidly-increasing numbers that continue to cross the borders.
Due to the current political unrest in one of South Africa’s neighbors, Zimbabwe, its citizens make up the largest percentage of the influx, but others from Mozambique, Malawi, Angola, Zambia, Somalia and even as far afield as Sierra-Leone and Nigeria have added to the figures.
The current unemployment rate in South Africa, along with the escalating prices of essential items and foodstuffs due to the ever-increasing oil price, has found South African nationals harboring grudges against these immigrants as they see their presence as a threat to present and future employment opportunities and quality of life. This has resulted in vigilante actions being taken by many lower-income, unemployed and poverty-stricken South Africans against foreigners settling within their communities. It is surprising to experience a day when no new incidents of xenophobic violence have been reported.
Many foreign nationals who have settled within South Africa’s borders have resorted to entrepreneurial skills to survive. In many ways they provide a service that previously had been not been catered for within a community – a fact that seems to escape the xenophobic masses. Indoctrination of the uneducated by warmongers, and in certain cases, community leaders, has created a kind of mass hysteria last seen during the genocide in Rwanda, albeit presently on a much lesser scale. South Africa has built a worldwide reputation of forgiveness and reconciliation, and the recent events have created weariness among minorities all over the nation.
The military have been deployed by South Africa’s government to assist the Police services, who have faced an uphill battle in controlling the unrest. Political experts have contributed further reasons for the violence to the country’s largely-unmanned borders, poor service delivery, the incredibly high crime rate, government and police corruption and a lethargic foreign policy towards the Zimbabwean political crisis. The South African government, in turn, has reputedly blamed the current problem on a hidden force intent on usurping and undermining their authority.
Whatever the reasons, effective measures are required in order to quell the current antagonistic feelings against foreign nationals, with countermeasures to the flow of negative propaganda urgently needed. A South Africa where citizens are forced to produce identification to prove their nationality brings back memories of the Apartheid era where Africans of color were required to produce a “dompas” or passbook to explain their presence on the streets or in a specific neighborhood. Comparisons of this sort will tarnish the image that the new South Africa has worked so hard to instill and maintain.
Warren Potter - I am a 42 year old South African who has been writing since time began - it feels like it anyway. My freelance exploits have taken me to ...
