South African anti-immigration groups have told undocumented migrants from other parts of Africa to leave the country by the end of this month. The threats and violence against foreigners are worrying the government in Pretoria and angering its neighbours.
Scapegoating migrants in South Africa
South African police in riot gear used stun grenades and rubber bullets to repel a crowd of mostly undocumented Malawian men who pelted them with stones and bottles in a Durban suburb on Wednesday. The men were resisting an attempt to move them to an immigration detention centre, not because they wanted to stay in South Africa but because they wanted to leave the country as soon as possible.
Thousands of people from other parts of Africa have fled South Africa in recent weeks amid a wave of xenophobic violence and a deadline issued by anti-immigration campaigners for all undocumented foreigners to leave the country by June 30th. Anti-immigration demonstrations organised by March and March, a group led by former radio host Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, have often been accompanied by attacks on migrants and the torching and looting of foreign-owned shops and businesses.
At least five people have been killed and thousands have been displaced, with many hiding in the countryside or sheltering in churches to escape the violence. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday warned against scapegoating foreigners for South Africa’s troubles but promised tougher enforcement of immigration rules.
READ MORE
“No South African must take any action against any person from any of our African sister countries. That is the responsibility of government and government officials,” he said.
“We must not allow South Africans to be duped and to be misled by those who want to foster instability in our country. We will not allow that.”
South Africa’s biggest trade unions have also condemned the anti-immigrant protests and warned members against taking part in anti-migrant demonstrations on June 30th. In a statement on Wednesday, the unions acknowledged the deep frustration felt by South Africans over unemployment, poverty, inequality, crime and deteriorating public services.
“These are real and legitimate grievances. However, South Africa’s economic crisis was not created by migrants. It is rooted in economic stagnation, deindustrialisation, mass unemployment, corruption, austerity, weak governance and the failure to build an economy that serves the majority,” they said.
South Africa has about three million immigrants, mostly from other parts of Africa, out of a total population of about 63 million. Many are attracted by the country’s relative wealth compared with other African countries, with a per capita GDP of about $7,500 (€6,500), seven times that of Nigeria.
The South African economy is experiencing a slow recovery, growing by 1.1 per cent last year, but unemployment rose this year to 32.7 per cent and the rate is much higher among young people. It is one of the most unequal societies in the world and the median white household still earns three times the average wage of black South Africans and holds about 20 times the wealth of their black counterparts.
Ramaphosa was speaking on the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising in 1976, when thousands of young black South Africans protested against the apartheid government’s order making Afrikaans compulsory, alongside English, as a medium of instruction in schools. As they marched towards Soweto’s Orlando Stadium, they came face to face with heavily armed police, who fired tear gas and live ammunition at them.
The first to be killed was Hector Pieterson, who was 12 or 13, and by the end of the day an estimated 176 protesters were dead. Images of South African police firing on children evoked outrage around the world and helped to invigorate international support for the anti-apartheid movement.
The fight against apartheid depended greatly on support and solidarity from other parts of Africa, something the governments of Ghana, Nigeria and others have reminded Pretoria in recent weeks as they brought home hundreds of their citizens fleeing the anti-immigrant violence. Ghana, which welcomed 350 repatriated migrants with full ceremonial honours this month, has called on the African Union to debate the treatment of African migrants in South Africa.
Anger across Africa at the treatment of migrants in South Africa is worrying some of the country’s big companies with operations throughout the continent. Ramaphosa on Tuesday insisted that South Africans were not xenophobic, adding he wanted to work with other countries to address the economic challenges driving migration.
“We want the whole region and the continent to address this issue together with us, so that we address the root cause of why people would leave their own country and come to what they see as an economic oasis,” he said.
Please let me know what you think and send your comments, thoughts or suggestions for topics you would like to see covered to denis.globalbriefing@irishtimes.com
