It can and will happen again

A month after the Fifa Soccer World Cup has ended, it seems that despite some incidents of violent attacks and looting aimed at foreigners, things have returned to normal and the danger of a large-scale outbreak of xenophobia averted. Then a whispered remark by an irritated cashier in a supermarket till queue (“When are they ever going to leave?”) in reference to black French-speaking customers, serves as a reminder that xenophobic violence can and is very likely to flare up again in the future.

For now, South Africa has escaped a recurrence of the May 2008 explosion of xenophobic violence, but a recently published book on focused research done into the what, why and whereto of May 2008 among others, comes to the conclusion that: “The material conditions and attitudes which give rise to xenophobic conflict remain.” And, "the likelihood of such attacks recurring is highly likely without a radical and committed, multipronged and multi-stakeholder response.”

From the 500-page report, under the editorship of David Everatt, it is clear that while it has key roles to play, dealing with the problem of xenophobia cannot only be the responsibility of the government and the state. The report warns that “violence against African migrants will continue and increase unless some profound socio-economic and attitudinal changes occur.”

However, from this report and other sources, it is also clear that key government role-players are still displaying dangerous denialism around the problem of xenophobia – often disguised behind semantic debates about the difference between criminality and a number of other phobias and xenophobia – while some instruments of state, notably the Department of Home Affairs, remain ill-equipped to deal with some of the elements of the problem.

In the interim, real people who have fled from intolerable and life-threatening situations in their own countries are constantly living on edge in South Africa. Many days they are in fear to send their children to school or to board a train.

After last week’s Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said there is no evidence that xenophobic violence will occur during the run-up to next year’s general municipal election. The ministerial committee, which was created in response to the reported danger of xenophobic violence in the wake of the World Cup, is continuously monitoring the situation.

Maseko again claimed the incidents that did occur after the World Cup were rather the result of criminality than xenophobia.

The Everatt report, however, points out that a survey conducted in Gauteng in late 2009 on the statement “foreigners are taking benefits meant for South Africans”, posed that a “shocking 69% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed”.

The report further states that the research project “highlighted the depth of xenophobia, the lack of social cohesion and tolerance of diversity and the levels of frustration within some communities. The (May 2008) attacks highlighted the organisational and leadership vacuums, particularly of progressive voices and structures, in some of South Africa’s poorest communities.”

In an article on the Polity website last week, the Law Society of South Africa Immigration Law Committee vice-chairperson, Chris Watters questioned the  ability of Home Affairs to calm the situation, given that he believes there are some department officials who have xenophobic attitudes.

He further pointed out that the department’s two-year transformation plan, at a budget of R1.2 billion, has obtained some results, but this is “about the fourth time that the department is undertaking transformation since its launch in 1994”.

In the interim, amendments to the Immigration Act dealing with economic migrants, passed by parliament in 2006 and which would lighten the workload of the department, has still not been implemented. New regulations must be approved by the minister's Immigration Advisory Board, which was disbanded by the minister. A new board is not discussing the regulations.

In another aticle on the same website, University of Cape Town’s Law Clinic Refugee Rights Project director Fatima Khan argues that the failure to process economic migrants properly has eroded the country’s refugee system, as they are being documented as asylum seekers, which is doing genuine refugees a great injustice since reception offices’ capacities are overwhelmed.

The Everatt report clearly illustrates that South Africa’s civil society and its organisations did not function all that well in dealing with the xenophobic crisis of  May 2008. Not all blame can be laid at the door of government and the organs of state. It lays bare the immense complexity of the problem and its underlying causes, all of which are within the country’s control.

Simply monitoring the situation with a focus on and strategies for high-risk events such as the World Cup and municipal elections, will not be good enough to avert a recurrence of sporadic violent incidents or a repeat of May 2008.

In the words of the report: Xenophobia… is a symptom of a deeper malaise. And what all of this points to is that a rupture with the 1994-2010 period is now required”; and, “If the cause is to be tackled, rather than the symptom treated, then the transition – the socio-economic transition – needs to be completed.”