Last month saw the upsurge of xenophobic attacks in South Africa where businesses owned by immigrants were destroyed and looted by a gang of machete-wielding youths who also injured and killed several foreigners.

The attacks continued despite the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, calling for the arrest of those involved and warning that the violence could trigger retaliatory attacks against South Africans living in other countries.”There can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries. We are against xenophobia. These attacks are completely against the rule of law,” he added.

Alarmed by the situation, US President Donald Trump through Twitter, threatened the South African government with sanctions by saying, “These barbaric attacks by South Africans are very disappointing, its time we put South Africa under strong economic sanction. First, it was the white minority, now it the African. Either Cyril gets his people in line or we pull out all our investments and they learn.”

What was so ironic about the xenophobic outbreak was that it happened on the eve of the Africa World Economic Forum in the capital, Cape Town. The forum provided the best platform for South Africa to showcase its commitment to greater integration and trade with the rest of the world. It was, therefore, a shame that it was overshadowed by the actions of a bigoted gang.

However, it is not the first time xenophobia has swept through the country once hailed as a rainbow nation because of its diverse population. Ever since the African National Congress took the reigns of power from the white minorities, there have been repeated cases of xenophobia. The first known case was in 1994, the same year the country had its first election to end apartheid and to usher in a black government led by Nelson Mandela. Since then, attacks targeting foreigners and their businesses have been on the rise.

Most South Africans carrying out these attacks have justified their actions by claiming that the immigrants mainly from Nigeria and Zimbabwe, have taken over their jobs, and their economy leaving them with nothing. They also accuse the immigrant whom they derogatorily refer to us “Kwerekwere”, of being drug dealers, prostitutes, and robbers.

The truth is that economic hardship is one of the major factors behind the attacks. Over half of the country’s population, who are mainly black, live in poverty in slums scattered in major cities. Many of them are jobless and the few that have been employed complain of being paid very little money. It is situations such as these that have forced South Africans to direct their anger towards immigrants.

The economic hardship can be attributed to apartheid policies which marginalised black South Africans. According to a report by World Bank on the root causes of economic struggle in South Africa, one of the main factors behind poverty in South Africa is racial inequality. Although racial segregation ended in 1994, South Africa remains the most racially unequal country in the whole world. Figures released In 2017 showed the rate of unemployment among black South Africans as 31.4 %, while among white South Africans it was 6.6%.

This inequality in the labour sector is because black people are considered less skilled compared to other races, and therefore stand very little chance of securing well-paying jobs. For a very long time, they were excluded from the workforce and restricted from education. While the white people were taught reading, languages and mathematics, Africans were taught to become unskilled labourers to bar them from competing with the white people for high-paying jobs. The effect of this was that at the end of Apartheid, South Africa had a high skilled economy which relied heavily on educated white people, and a large underclass of unskilled black people who could only find jobs in mines and factories.

As white people began to retire and others moved to Europe, there were not enough skilled South Africans to take over the main sectors of the economy. This presented an opportunity for skilled Africans from other countries to migrate to South African to feel the gap. The repercussion followed almost immediately in the form of xenophobia by the South Africans who felt foreigners were taking over their jobs.

Most disenchanted South Africans have directed blamed their economic problems on the leaders who took over from the white people. Although the leaders are credited for fighting for the freedom of South Africans, they failed to address historical injustices which would have created an equal society. The blame has squarely been on the shoulders of the country’s first African President, Nelson Mandela. Even though the critics accept that he succeeded in championing for racial harmony, they believe that he failed to empower black South Africans economically.

Among those who held this view was Mandela’s his ex-wife Winnie Mandela, who told a London newspaper, “Mandela let us down. He agreed to a bad deal for black people. Economically, we are still on the outside. The economy is very much ‘white’. It has a few token black individuals, but so many who gave their lives in the struggle have died unrewarded,” The critics feel that Mandela was duped into a deal which only favoured and protected the interests of the white people. He appeared to have focused too much on the political side of the negotiations without giving much consideration to the economic aspect that could have addressed some of the racial inequalities.

Unless concrete steps are taken to correct inequalities caused by years of apartheid, South Africa will still see spates of xenophobic attacks. High and persistent unemployment, especially among the young South Africans, is one of the major concern. This can be solved through the creation of jobs, increasing labour demand and raising the productivity of the labour force. But that would be meaningless unless more education opportunities are availed to South Africans so that they can gain the essential skills. Another issue that needs to be addressed is that unequal distribution of land. Most of the country’s wealth and land are still held by very few South Africans, namely white people.

L'articolo Addressing Historical Injustices is Key To Preventing Xenophobia in South Africa proviene da InsideOver.

Three people have died in South Africa after attacks on foreign-owned stores. Another person is currently being treated for smoke inhalation. In the attacks, black South Africans began looting and burning businesses and properties that belong to immigrants.

The President of the Nigeria Union South Africa, Adetola Olubajo said: “Late in the evening of Sunday, September 1, a group of violent locals suspected to be Zulu hostel dwellers besieged Jules Street in Malvern, Johannesburg, [and] looted and burned shops/businesses.

“The mob also looted several shops that were around the vicinity suspected to be owned by foreign nationals.” According to Mr. Olubanjo, over 50 shops and businesses were looted and burned overnight, totalling a loss of millions of rands.

“The means of livelihood of people were looted and destroyed by fire overnight which has left many Nigerians traumatised,” he continued. “Nigerian-owned businesses were seriously affected. A car sales business owned by a Nigerian [was] among the several businesses set ablaze over the night.

“Although the police said that many people had been arrested in connection with the unnecessary attacks, the looting and burning of foreign-owned businesses continued till Monday morning,’’ he added.

The tension between black South Africans and black African immigrants has been escalating for decades in democratic South Africa. White South Africans retained control of most of the country’s wealth after apartheid, in what is called “white monopoly capital”.This has led to massive economic inequality between white and black South Africans, as poverty and unemployment stagnates the economic growth of South Africa’s black populace.

The End of Apartheid?

Foreigners are scapegoats of economic inequality in the country. In February 2017, a group from Pretoria, called the Mamelodi Concerned Residents, staged a march against alleged illegal immigrants in the country. In a flyer distributed in Johannesburg, the capital city, the group protested against South Africa’s lax immigration policies.

“Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Pakistanis etc. are not our countrymen,” the flyer read. “Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Pakistanis etc. bring nothing but destruction; hijack our buildings sell drugs, inject young South African ladies with drugs and sell them as prostitutes. How is that helping us? They have destroyed beloved Johannesburg and now they are destroying Pretoria.”

This demonstration led, all month, to attacks and looting of the homes of Malawians, Nigerians and Somalians, some of whom fought back.

During the February 2017 violence, Abdirazak Osman of the Somali Community Board of South Africa said: “We have been trying to endure the challenges we face in this country but it seems the people are running out of patience and have decided to fight back.”

Xenophobia against foreigners has a history dating back to the end of apartheid in South Africa. The majority of South Africa’s anti-immigrant violence, has taken place in Johannesburg. Many immigrants have been shot, burned alive, chased away or forcibly transported to police stations to be deported. Immigrants are routinely accused of having no legal papers, transporting drugs, stealing South African women and bringing crime into the country.

Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekulu, the King of the Zulu Nation widely known for his lavish spending, in a tactic similar to those used during the Rwandan genocide, likened South Africa’s immigrants to “lice” and “ants” and told them to “go back to their countries”.

“We are requesting those who come from outside to please go back to their countries,” he said during a public speech.

“The fact that there were countries that played a role in the country’s struggle for liberation should not be used as an excuse to create a situation where foreigners are allowed to inconvenience locals.

“I know you [South African nationals] were in their countries during the struggle for liberation. But the fact of the matter is you did not set up businesses in their countries,” he said.

Following the recent South African attacks against Nigerians, Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister Geoffrey Onyema tweeted: “Received sickening and depressing news of continued burning and looting of Nigerian shops and premises in #SouthAfrica by mindless criminals with ineffective police protection. Enough is enough. We will take definitive measures.”

South Africa’s government continues to meet decades of anti-immigrant violence with inaction, prompting criticism that they are creating a “new apartheid“, using foreigners as scapegoats for the country’s economic inequalities.

Xenophobia in Ghana

In Ghana, xenophobic attacks against immigrants is also rising. Last month, Nigerian traders were attacked by Ghanaian traders, after the Ghanaian Parliament barred Nigerian retail traders from trading in the country.

Dr Joseph Obeng, president of the Ghana Union of Traders Association, said: “These foreign retailers have found a loophole in our retail laws and are capitalising on that…We will not sit down and watch them take over our market.”

“If a Ghanaian sells something in the market for $7, a Nigerian will come in and sell it for $4, then take that money back to Nigeria,” an InsideOver source from Ghana explained.

L'articolo South Africa’s Government Scapegoats Immigrants for Economic Problems proviene da InsideOver.