By Michael Appel
Fingers are being pointed at politicians and senior government officials for stoking the fires of anti-immigrant sentiment as a cheap and easy means to deflect from decades of failure.
The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has just released a report titled: Scapegoating in South Africa – Busting the myths about immigrants. You can read the report in full here.
Its authors have woven together many years of data to combat populist rhetoric that’s so pervasive in the body politic of South Africa today. That everything from poor service delivery, crime, a lack of housing, poor administration of hospitals and home affairs, can all be blamed on foreigners. Documented or undocumented…it doesn’t seem to matter too much.
The report notes that since democracy dawned, there has been a gradual increase in anti-foreigner sentiment, “with more than 936 violent xenophobic incidents recorded. These have resulted in more than 630 deaths, the displacement of 123,700 people and the looting of about 4,850 shops”.
Just remember, that’s 630 deaths the authorities could find a body for. I suspect it’s safe to consider that figure is on the conservative side.
The worst incidents of violence targeting immigrants came in 2008 and 2015. But there have been sporadic flare-ups over the years. I’ve been at many crime scenes where vigilante groups gruesomely ended the lives of those deemed unwelcome and upon whom the collective scorn of a disgruntled and angry nation appeared to descend.
Foreign-owned spaza shops are often the first to be targeted and looted by mobs during protests – irrespective of the motive for anger on the day. In the Zamdela township on the outskirts of Sasolburg in January 2013, residents were protesting the proposed merger of the Metsimaholo municipality in Sasolburg with the Ngwathe municipality in Parys. It was a government decision and had nothing to do with immigrants but sure enough, their spazas were the first to be looted before the crowds descended on other businesses, including supermarkets, hardware stores, and a massive bottle store.
ATMs were also on the list of items which needed to be destroyed. I remember watching a crowd trying to break an ATM open for hours to no avail. Police were outmanned and outgunned, running out of rubber bullets, eventually being forced to use live ammunition as the mob had its sights on breaking into the police station and stealing the cache of arms. Many people were shot dead that day.
After several days of protesting, locals were complaining about having to walk into town to buy basics like food and water – usually available at the nearby spaza shops – but everything had been destroyed.
The turmoil in South Africa over the years has not escaped the ire of international bodies. Human Rights Watch wrote that: “In May 2008 xenophobic violence broke out in Alexandra, Johannesburg, and rapidly spread to seven of South Africa’s nine provinces, resulting in 62 deaths, including 21 South Africans, 11 Mozambicans, five Zimbabweans and three Somalis; thousands were injured. Some 40,000 foreign nationals left the country and a further 50,000 remain internally displaced.
“The attacks are indicative of growing xenophobia in South Africa, where isolated incidents of violence against foreign nationals have been documented since the mid-1990s.”
In mid-July this year the UN – who has been tracking growing xenophobia in the country – issued a statement condemning the escalating violence against foreign nationals.
“Recent reports indicate that xenophobic violence and discrimination have increased, including under the banner of Operation Dudula, originally a social media campaign that has become an umbrella for mobilisation of violent protests, vigilante violence, arson targeting migrant-owned homes and businesses, and even the murder of foreign nationals.
“The experts warned that the ongoing xenophobic mobilisation was broader and deeper, and has become the central campaign strategy for some political parties in the country. ‘Anti-migrant discourse from senior government officials has fanned the flames of violence, and government actors have failed to prevent further violence or hold perpetrators accountable’ they [UN experts] said.” (read the statement).
The ISS report cites South Africa’s statistician-general, Risenga Maluleke, as saying there is “erroneous reporting of undocumented migrants in SA”. According to the best available 2021 mid-year population estimates, Stats SA believe there are about 3.95 million immigrants in South Africa.
There is no shortage of politicians eager to make inroads into disillusioned constituencies in this country. Former Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba is cited by the ISS as being unable to give any evidence for his claim that “foreign nationals who are in Johannesburg without documentation are linked to criminal activity in the city”.
Also, Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader and mayor of the Central Karoo District, Gayton McKenzie, appears to revel in anti-foreigner sentiment, infamously saying he’d happily turn off oxygen to a foreign patient in hospital to save a South African life.
The ISS report notes that while immigrants are often bedevilled for taking jobs from South Africans, a 2018 World Bank study – drawing from data collected between 1996 and 2011 – found, “one immigrant worker generates approximately two jobs for locals”. Also, a July 2018 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and International Labour Organisation found immigrants contribute an estimated 9% of the country’s GDP.
As for the notion that the majority of crimes are perpetrated by foreign nationals, the ISS report draws on a parliamentary response from Justice Minister Ronald Lamola on 7 January 2022. In it Lamola gave a breakdown of the number of foreign nationals convicted of crimes in South Africa:
- 2019 – 13 897
- 2020 – 9 892
- 2021 (as of 21 September) – 4 887
“When the figures for convictions are compared to the total number of sentenced and unsentenced inmates incarcerated per year, immigrants made up 8.5% of convicted cases in 2019 and 7.1% in 2020,” states the ISS report.
Read also:
- ANC hunkers down, victimising foreigners – Ivo Vegter
- STEP inside the lives of migrants courtesy of Generation Africa
- Nhlanhla ‘Lux’ Mohlauli – hero, vigilante or shrewd opportunist?
