Welcome worn out for "foreigners"

The growing hostility of South Africans towards "foreigners" from the rest of the continent keeps Anthony Sanko, an asylum seeker, indoors as much as possible. "South Africans hate foreigners more than ever. Some of them are no longer hiding their hatred of foreigners behind [the alleged loss of] jobs or high crime rates - they just want us to leave their country," said Anthony Sanko, a Liberian who left his country two years ago. Acts of organised violence against African migrants break out periodically; Somali-owned businesses in the informal settlement of Diepsloot, outside Johannesburg, have been repeatedly torched and looted this year. There is also the fear of random violence from South Africans who often view people from the rest of the continent as competition for scarce jobs in a country with 40 percent unemployment, or stereotype foreigners as drug dealers, armed robbers and welfare cheats flooding into the country. "Xenophobia is a fast-growing problem that cuts across race, class, gender and age," said Jacob van Garderen, a researcher with the Refugee and Migrant Project of the NGO, Lawyers for Human Rights. "It is there in Diepsloot, Khutsong, [informal settlements, and] East London, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay [wealthier communities, and] in the [Eastern and Western] Cape Provinces. It is often based on stereotyped beliefs, unfounded media-generated accusations around crime, and access to jobs and social services," said van Garderen. Tough Competition According to the 2001 census, in a total South African population of 45 million, just under one million foreigners are legally resident in the country. However, the Department of Home Affairs estimates there are more than seven million undocumented immigrants. Ishamel Mkhabela, a representative of the Landless People's Movement in Protea South, a squatter settlement outside Johannesburg, believes South Africans have good reason to feel resentful over the influx of people from the rest of Africa. "Everywhere locals have to compete with foreigners to get employment, space to build a shack and in gaining access to basic services. Government must understand that we are just wondering why they struggle so much to satisfy foreigners while deprived locals sink deeper into poverty," said Mkhabela. Marcell Korth, a researcher at the University of Johannesburg's Centre for African Development, said while discrimination of any kind was unacceptable, xenophobia was linked to the extreme hardships faced by a growing population of disadvantaged South Africans who have not benefited from the end of apartheid. "The wave of foreign migrants has coincided with an upsurge in internal migration as more locals escaping poverty in the rural areas flood the cities in search of scarce jobs," said Korth. "The number of Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Somalis, Congolese and other refugee populations is doubling annually in the townships and informal settlements. There is serious competition for everything." According to Zimbabwean Collet Ncube, a waiter at a restaurant in Johannesburg's inner city suburb of Braamfontein, "Everyone who can't find a job finds a scapegoat in foreigners. Newspapers and the police want to seek foreign links to every crime." Nigerians dominate small retail businesses in the Bramfontein area. Sam Adebayo, a shop-owner, is indignant at being stereotyped as a criminal. "We are all victims of crime, but the perpetrators are citizens and foreigners alike. It is wrong to treat all foreigners as criminals and ignore the bigger roles played by locals." The Department of Correctional Services has a total of 110,000 convicted prisoners and detainees awaiting trial on its books. Of these, just over 4 percent are foreigners. Ignoring History Adebayo says South Africans need to accept that business is "more about competition than affirmative action" - a dig at the government's attempt to create black employment in the 12 years since apartheid ended. To survive in the job market, "locals need to be creators, not seekers, of employment". The countries of Southern Africa are linked by a history of migration: South Africa's mines drew workers from across the region for more than a century. Now, the prosperity of South Africa and the opportunities it represents - despite its reputation for violent crime - has attracted those escaping poverty and instability in the rest of the continent. "Post-apartheid nation-building should clearly reflect the cosmopolitan nature of the country. Foreigners are still coming into the country, and they will be here for a long time to come. Our definition of nation-building should teach our people to accept this population diversity," said van Garderen. The Roll Back Xenophobia campaign, making South Africans aware of the country's international obligations to refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers, has more than 15 civil society partners. But coordinator Katrina Mseme acknowledges there is a long way to go, and blames the police and media for inflaming the situation. "Judgemental statements have been made, singling out Mozambicans as carjackers; Zimbabweans are portrayed as cash-in-transit heist specialists; and Nigerians as suppliers or dealers in drugs. The media are fed such stereotypes by the police, and they just offload it on their readers. Such careless pronouncements are not helping the war against xenophobia," said Mseme. "We need to deal with these perceptions," home affairs minister Nosiviwe-Mapisa Nqakula told business leaders in Johannesburg last week. "Xenophobia is spreading like wildfire", and ignoring the positive role immigrants play in the national economy. on/oa/he //Part two of this series on xenophobia will be released on 28 July, 2006//