10
◼ REMARKS Bloomberg Businessweek November 25, 2019thecitycenter.Localpoliticiansassertwithlittleevidence
thatZimbabweansandMalawiansstealjobs.Alltherheto-
ricinflamesSouthAfricansfrustratedbysoaringcrimelev-
els,highunemployment,housingshortages,andpoorhealth
care.“Whenpoliticalleaderssayalltheproblemsaredue
toforeignnationals,thepeopleonthegroundaregoingto
believethem,”saysMisagooftheAfricanCentreforMigration
& Society.“There’snoneedtofact-check.Thesearethejus-
tificationsforthefailureofservicedelivery.”
SouthAfrica’slawenforcementagencieshavedonelittle
topreventtheviolenceorarresttheinstigators.Lootersare
regularlyarrestedbutquicklyreleased.They“aretypically
nottheonesthatlightthematch,”Madikanesays,callingfor
strongeractionagainstorganizersoftheviolence.Butfewof
thosewhoinspiretheattackshavefacedprosecution.The
latestboutofviolence,whichledtothedeathof 12 people
including 10 SouthAfricans,wassparkedbya flyercallingfor
actionagainstforeignnationals,accordingtoanexposéby
thesocialjusticewebsiteNewFrame,whichinterviewedthe
allegedauthorofthepamphlet.Noarrestshavebeenmade.
Policerarelyactonwarningsthatattacksarebeingplanned.
Governmentofficialsuptotheministeriallevelinsistthe
violenceis “criminality”ratherthanxenophobia.“Itis unfortu-
natethattheseincidencesarelabeledasxenophobicviolence,”
theDepartmentofJusticeandConstitutionalDevelopmentsaid
ina responsetoquestions.“Governmenthasconsistentlyindi-
catedthattheincidentsreferredtorelatetosporadicincidents
ofviolencedirectedatsomeforeignnationalsandnot‘xeno-
phobia.’” Thedepartmentalsodisputedthatactionisn’tbeing
takentoprosecutetheperpetrators.
Specialcourts to prosecute offenders, which were
suggestedbytheSouthAfricanHumanRightsCommission
aftertheoutbreaksofviolencein2008,wereneverset
up, Madikane says. Thejustice department says that
recommendation and others “were taken on board” and a
number are in the process of being included in a national
action plan. “It’s essentially a governance issue. It’s rule of
law, it’s lack of leadership, it’s lack of conflict resolution
mechanisms,” Misago says. “Denialism and lack of political
will. The two together amount to complicity.”
On Oct. 30, at about the same time that Thulani Mavuso,
South Africa’s acting director general of home affairs, was
telling broadcaster ENCA that the country wasn’t xeno-
phobic, police were filmed wrenching small children from
the arms of their migrant mothers at a demonstration in
Cape Town outside the offices of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees. The families were demanding
to be sent to safer countries.
Despite the violence and hostility, many migrants say they
can’t leave. They’ve come to South Africa from failed states
such as Somalia or left because of the economic collapse of
Zimbabwe. Some are fleeing violence in their own countries.
“Despite all the violence, people see South Africa as a place
of economic opportunity,” Misago says. “A place of democ-
racy and protection of human rights.” Even after his travails,Yosif, the Somali merchant, doesn’t plan to leave. “We don’t
have anywhere else to go. We have to make it work,” he says.
“A lot of the time things are OK. But when there is violence,
the angry people chase us first.”
Migrants and refugees, though, may not have the same
benefits Yosif has enjoyed. The government is reviewing the
widely praised set of laws that have governed migration and
refugees in the country since 1998. These laws have allowed
refugees to study, seek work, and live within communities
in South Africa rather than be housed in camps. The pro-
posed Refugees Amendment Act would remove the right
of refugees to work and study, according to the Scalabrini
Centre. The White Paper on International Migration released
in July 2017 by the Department of Home Affairs—and dis-
cussed before Parliament—talks about moving to a refugee
camp-based system.
The amendments, which need the president’s signature,
will streamline the asylum process and clear a backlog, the
Department of Home Affairs said in response to queries.
“Attacks on foreign nationals, and the safety of all people
in the country, are a matter receiving serious attention,” the
department said. “All organs of state in the justice, crime
prevention,andsecurityclusterareinvolved.SouthAfrica
remainscommittedtobuildingcommunitiesinwhichall
people are, and feel, safe.”
Instead of camps, refugee reception offices may be set up
closer to borders where asylum seekers enter, the department
said. The Scalabrini Centre says those are effectively camps,
because asylum seekers will need to be housed close to them
and won’t have freedom of movement across the country. The
office of the president didn’t respond to requests for comment.
While Ramaphosa and other leaders decry the violence,
at least one politician appears to recognize that a deeper sen-
timent needs to be dealt with. “We have regrettably turned
against our brothers and sisters from the rest of the conti-
nent,” Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni said in his budget
speech on Oct. 30. “We should inculcate in the minds of our
people that we are all Africans.”
The violence rankles many migrants from countries who
helped fight the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
Nigerian civil servants contributed part of their salaries to a
so-called Mandela tax. “Some of us were chased from school
if we didn’t pay the Mandela levy,” says Olisaemeka Anieze, a
41-year-old secondhand clothes trader from Nigeria, which is
fast becoming South Africa’s biggest economic and political
rival on the continent. In September a mob chased him away
from his store in central Johannesburg and stole his property.
“They blame their failure on us. They use us as their pawns.
I am tired of being a pawn.”
The attacks in September and the likelihood that theywill
berepeatedhavepersuadedAniezetoleave.He’smoving
backtoLagostostarta fishfarm.“It’slikebuildinga sand-
castleclosetothesea.I can’tkeepgatheringandlosing,” he
says. “I wish the country well, but it’s not nice when you walk
with a mark on your back.” <BW>