Perhaps merely rumour, but still very dangerous

According to news reports, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said the committee of ministers appointed to head off the threat of renewed xenophobia is seeking an urgent meeting with newspaper editors to discuss what they perceive as a pattern of damaging reports. If people who do not even read newspapers pack and beg lifts to Zimbabwe, or phone their employers while the Fifa Soccer World Cup final is being played to say they will not be in on Monday for fear of leaving their homes, this could be tantamount to dangerous self-delusion.

In fact as it turned out it became known on Monday that while the final match was being played in Soccer City, looting of foreigner owned started and some of them had to be brought to safety under police protection. With it happening almost simultaneously from Cape Town to Joburg, the claims of “mere rumours” started sounding very hollow.

It would be equally dangerous and irresponsible neglect of duty if newspapers do not report these facts or even the rumours about planned xenophobic attacks on foreigners in the country – if it is merely rumour.

What in fact is quite disturbing is that by Monday night, while news about the attacks were reported world-wide, it was totally ignored by the SABC in its main news bulletin of the night. It only featured on the late night news at 22.00 and then almost “hidden” in a brief mention at the back-end of the bulletin.

While there is clear evidence that the government is indeed taking serious the threat of an outbreak of xenophobia in the wake of the completion of the World Cup tournament, and that it has put together some plans to deal with such an eventuality – Minister Mthethwa’s comment about the newspapers is perplexing. His ascribing the rumours to “sinister forces” determined to deny South Africa’s World Cup success smacks of either denialism or scapegoating.

At the same time, however, he said the Cabinet would not ignore the rumours and indicated that wide-ranging measures have been put in place to deal with the eventuality of xenophobic incidents, should they occur.

In fact, so widespread are the rumours that they have created an atmosphere which may be even more dangerous than actual planned attacks which, with good solid intelligence, could be met with well-planned and focused counter strategies.

In the case of rumours – which by all indications are mainly at work amid the present general fear of an outbreak of xenophobic attacks – an atmosphere has already been created in which the smallest of incidents could trigger a nation-wide wildfire outbreak of xenophobia. Such a situation is likely to prove much more difficult to manage.

How dangerous rumours can be, was illustrated some months ago when the death by natural causes of a young girl in a relatively peaceful town of De Doorns was ascribed to xenophobia. The result was a xenophobic orgy.

This past weekend, when a hijacking on the Cape Flats led to the death of one man and the serious wounding of another two, it immediately led to even more rumours of xenophobia. The victims, of which most probably was 'normal' crime, were Somali shopkeepers.

Some months ago, Leadership Intelligence Bulletin reported how xenophobia in South Africa dangerously mimics some of the patterns in the run-up to the genocide in Rwanda . One of the first phases in the process was the dehumanising of the target population by calling them "cockroaches" and scapegoating them for problems in society.

In many South African communities, particularly in those suffering economic hardship, it has become common practice to refer to foreigners as makwerekwere (a slang word for foreigners, and especially illegal immigrants) and blaming them for 'stealing' local job opportunities and housing, among others.

Some analysts are arguing that the situation is not real xenophobia and is more the result of underlying socio-economic circumstances to which the poor in the community are subjected.

Possibly, the matter deserves some thorough research to underpin holistic strategies to deal with the problem, but there is a real danger in the immediate future of wide-ranging violence directed at foreigners – be it triggered by anger and/or frustration or xenophobia.