Life, the ouroboros

[image source]

As expected, the unrest has spread to other Provinces, Mpumalanga, and KZN (so far). In Gauteng it has also spread to other areas, and has moved into formal settlements. The army is said to have been deployed. I agree with the opposition, this move should have come at least a week ago, but better late than never?
It’s cyclical, this xenophobia. I honestly think it’s an integral part of human psyche (not just African), and will continue unless, by some miracle, we change our social outlook as a species. Name a country, I guarantee there are waves of xenophobia that ebb and flow.

It was pretty interesting sitting at work today and overhearing some colleagues say “viva, viva! those jobs will be ours” in isiZulu. No, I don’t kuluma, but I do understand bits and pieces. And usually have no problem understanding tone and intent. Then again, maybe I’m just being paranoid?
It’s interesting to see the ‘good work’ is being rewarded: thousands of mozambicans are leaving the country, as are zimbabweans. Many are happy because they believe this opens up opportunities for them. And it may well do so. For a while.

I do not dispute that there are valid concerns in SA around jobs, prosperity, development, inclusion. It is this resorting to the same old ineffective temporary solution: violence and expulsion of that which is competition, that I object to. Anyone who offers up ‘frustration, etc.’ as valid reasons for the violence meted out is simply seeking to satisfy blood lust. Once the righteous blood lust is satisfied, then what? You wake up to a country with a ruined economy and capital flight (with all the attendant job loss, all this before factoring in the rising interest rates and the global recession – cue Kenny Rogers’ “you picked a fine time…”). You are now regarded suspiciously in circles where you were previously busy telling people what “they must do” to pull off the miracle you pulled off. (Then again, this seems to be the year that we explore our base nature?) Nothing good comes of violence. Look everywhere it has been wrought. Actually, look no further than south africa itself.

There will always be backlash, someone who wants vengeance. Then again, since SA is hell-bent on following the rutted African failed state trajectory, they would do well to study the history of such forced migrations (leaving out, for a moment, that many of those foreigners who’ve been repelled were also forced migrants).

Back when botswana was but a backwater (ok, economically), and zimbabwe was successful and sexy, batswana were not very well treated in zimbabwe. Now that the tables are turned (and if there is one thing we can confidently put one storey below death and taxes as inevitable, it’s that tables do turn) zimbabweans hardly get much love in botswana. Remember when kenya got busy deporting ugandan teachers? Wonder how kenyan refugees there are now being treated.

At work we’ve been talking through how to re-organize next week’s work because these attacks will have some impact on planned activities. A colleague says to me “you can pass for south african, you’re not too dark, and you can pretend that you’re deaf and mute.” Can I just say, at the risk of sounding vulgar, that I just love this!? What do I mean? I love that innocence and flippancy that comes with the utter security that it is the other, not you, who is at risk.

Ofcourse out of all this death and destruction will come a new dawn. Many of us will have gained a better appreciation for human life and human nature. Many others will retain their innocence and flippancy. One thing is sure though, at another time, another place, today’s victims will be in a position to say:

To the foreigners, we need to send a clear message: go home and fix up your own countries. Even if we’re generous in favour of the MDC, something like 30-40% of Zimabweans voted for Robert Mugabe again in the last election, despite everything. That’s no-one’s fault. You don’t like your dictator, get rid of him, one way or the other. But don’t have 4 out of 10 of your buddies vote the guy back in, and then run over the border and make your problems ours….Sorry for your troubles, but South Africa is not in a position to assist right now.

Atavism reloaded?

The past couple of days of listening to radio discussions on xenophobic attacks has been quite illuminating. As leaders are saying “Please stop. Please stop the violence now. This is not how we behave. These are our sisters and brothers. Please, please stop,” in yet another excellent illustration of how violence escalates unless decisively handled, one person has already been killed for hiring foreigners, and there was a report on radio of a man entering an office to ask the woman at the reception whether the company employs foreigners. She (of course) said no. He said he’d be back later to double check.

On to the radio discussions:

• Last night foreigners were calling in to radio stations to report how community meetings were being held to plan how to rout them from communities. Better yet, some government officials admitted that “We knew that there were certain meetings held, statements made, decisions apparently arrived at. But that that would lead to the kind of situation that has developed wasn’t fully anticipated, nor the speed at which it has spread … particularly the rapid escalation we’ve seen over the weekend was not fully anticipated. Otherwise we would have taken the necessary pre-emptive action.”
• The attacks are an illustration of the national problem-solving model. Everyone, in their private and public lives solves problems using violence. This is how the problem of apartheid was solved. This is the way in which children are taught (from watching their elders) to deal with conflict.
• There is a class issue at play here. Both in terms of stratifying black south africans, and in stratifying the foreigners.
• (The usual tirade against government. I say this because this tirade has been ongoing for as long as I can remember, and it gets to a point where your mind switches off as soon as yet another person complains that government is doing nothing). This includes the fact that there are no more apprenticeships or proper technical training that would make the youth productive if they do not go to tertiary education institutions. There is no proper way or infrastructure to absorb the large numbers of refugees and immigrants; they should not be allowed to mingle in townships with south africans who are also in need. Government moved from “the original Reconstruction and Development Programme [to] the current dog-eats-dog economic policy” so why is anyone surprised that this happened?
• A young man from Alex calls in. Says he’s seen all the events with his own naked eyes. Says he cheered on the mobs (made up of mostly youth) initially, but as it has escalated, he’s seen that it is wrong and will serve no constructive purpose.
• There is a large group of black south africans who love africa and africans. They believe in ubuntu, and that we are all brothers and sisters, kept apart by our colonized thinking. This group calls in to express their sorrow at what is happening. Cannot get their minds around why anyone would burn another. One person says there were women, mothers (said with incredulity), who were laughing at the burning man and telling passers-by how he had met that fate.
• Another says that they always thought South Africa was a special country (especially when seeing all the fighting ‘up there in africa’), but they now realize that it’s an african country after all.
• Most of the callers express their fear that the situation will escalate. One woman says “last week it was makwerekwere, this week it’s shangans and vendas, next week it will be xhosas and sothos”. Another person mentions that a couple of months ago, in Zeerust, tswana children were telling xhosa children to “go back to your home.”
• The mining industry, which has traditionally drawn a large part of its labor from southern africa (visit the Apartheid Museum to understand that progression, and that apartheid grew from mostly economic considerations) is very concerned. They fear the situation will deteriorate to what it was in 1992 when people in the hostels (where the mine workers reside) were being targeted for being non-south african. Now, with industry already hobbled by power cuts, along comes xenophobia and violence to further cripple production and by extension, the greater economy.
• Some in the property/construction industry chime in to say that it will also affect them because their labor force consists of some foreigners. Something about them being more skilled because the SA education institutions have failed to provide apprenticeships to citizens.
• The bad precedent was set in the past. When the people sang mshini wami at the court, when they sang it (while booing leaders) in Polokwane, no one stopped or censured them. Why then are we complaining when they sing mshini wami as they attack foreigners? (you can also buy a ring tone of the same )
• Oh, and how we dare forget to behave, otherwise we’ll damage tourism? (though I hear people in some areas have refused to engage in the ’spontaneous uprisings’ because they don’t want to chase away their tourists)
• Someone brings to our attention the fact that the Chinese, though present as a relatively well-to-do immigrant community, have not been attacked. This brings forth hypotheses that it’s because they are not integrated into the local community, so they’re not really taking people’s jobs, housing, opportunities. Someone else (who has something many of us lack, historical perspective/memory) weighs in to dispute this hypothesis. Back when the Somalis were being attacked, people had said that they, rather than Nigerians and Zimbabweans (and other Africans), were being singled out because they had not integrated into the local communities. Today, we can see that even those integrated Nigerians and Zimbabweans are being targeted. They conclude that it has to do with race, something about negrophobia, and because you can’t attack/grievously harm yourself as you might wish, you project that violence on whoever looks like you.

Many good solutions and places to start are articulated in the course of these radio discussions (mostly education, education, education, and raising of self-esteem). I wonder if those responsible for social development in government are listening (to radio with notebook and pen handy)? Probably not. Because, on this continent, government will not bring the solutions we seek. We need to come up with new models of problem solving. I know many Kenyans were busy quoting how decentralization has helped south africa. All policies look great on paper. The rub is in their implementation. Right now, all south african provinces are not equal. Some are paying more attention to development than others which are busy making corruption their mainstay. Give it another 10 years of this trend and you’ll have a right proper ethnic situation, and how it develops will be determined by how this current situation is handled.

Pogroms continua

[image source]

So: in Johannesburg, the people continue the ‘good work’ (started on other parts of this continent earlier this year) of getting rid of the foreigners who are taking their opportunities.

As always, the rumors and (conspiracy) theories abound. Though these are called being xenophobic attacks, some say it is simply crime dressed in xenophobic clothing. Others hypothesize that it started a couple of years ago in the western cape, with attacks on Pakistan and Somali communities. Then it moved to the Eastern Cape, targeting small enterprises belonging to foreigners. Then a couple of months ago it moved to Pretoria townships. Then to diepsloot, then Alex, and today, downtown Johannesburg. Still others claim that, like with the late-night-airport-raids-on-foreigners, the police didn’t care about it ’cause it wasn’t ‘their’ people. But there is evidence now, in both the airport hijackings, and these pogroms, that though you may crow with joy at violence being unleashed against the ‘other’, it is a machine which, once it gains momentum, is very difficult to stop, and may even pay you a visit before it runs out of steam (temporarily). I think it’s a power struggle, the usual kind where I’m happy to cut off my nose to spite my face.

The clamor is, of course, that the people are getting rid of the foreigners who are responsible for all the crime that happens in the townships, and who are taking locals’ opportunities: jobs, government housing, and spot on the pavement. Those initially targeted in Alex were Zimbabweans. There were reports saying that the mobs are made up of the 15-22 demographic, kids who were toddlers on the eve of ‘democracy’ and who have no idea what this country has been through. They apparently storm into your house and demand your ID book. If you turn out to be a South African, they demand that you join them in their murderous rampage. If you decline, you find yourself a victim. At some point last week, having accomplished the objective of their ‘good work’, i.e., having cleansed many (if not all) areas of Alex of foreigners, they are said to have started turning on different tribes. Other reports claim they are members of ‘a certain community’ who were running around town last night telling foreigners to bounce, but to leave behind their cool stuff (DVD players, TVs, fridges, beds, etc.) so the mobs could have them. [click here to understand that it is war]

On Alex: The DA (official opposition) and other elements had said that they’d done their own audit and found at least 3 non-South Africans had been allocated government housing in Alex, housing that was supposed to be for South Africans (justification?). The housing COO was on radio the following day indicating that there was no unfair allocation of government houses in Alex. He said his records show that those non-South Africans who had been allocated houses were permanent residents, and therefore eligible for government housing as per the laws of the land. He also indicated he had been to a community meeting the previous week, and the issue of housing did not arise because people there understand the process, and that it (process) is transparent.

Now, if you’ve been on this earth for at least 20 years, you should be aware that there is hardly ever anything like a “spontaneous uprising” of the people (globally). No.such.thing. In a country with a history of organized violence/uprising (workers, gangsters, government, etc.) as South Africa is, anyone indicating that these are spontaneous uprisings needs to be dispatched to the neanderthal cul de sac, because this gene pool already has an abundant quota of the same (at last! my kenyan grammar emerges). A great deal of this type of unrest may be laid at the feet of past policies such as making the country ungovernable or opposing government, which are no longer viable in a new dispensation. Many leaders fail to brainwash their citizens of the previous mental models, resulting, as we see today, in these mental models biting everyone in the behind.

So, the question arises: who is organizing these mobs and to what end? Some theorize that there’s a Zimbabwe connection. That some in Zim have decided Mbeki (and South Africa) need to be shaken from the lull of their “quiet diplomacy” with respect to Zim. They must be shown that they have to urgently address the Zim issue (obviously by removing Bob) otherwise their country and economy will suffer as a result. Hmmm why does this sound so familiar? And can anyone spell demonstration effect?

[image source]

What I’ve gleaned from phone calls and ‘foreigner’ huddles today (all purely hearsay): cops were giving reporters bullet-proof vests ’cause they could not guarantee their safety (mob members have machine guns). There were running battles downtown: foreigners being attacked by mobs, foreigners retaliating where they could (most are congregating at police stations or public spaces where they feel safe), and police trying to figure out what to do, and hopelessly overwhelmed. Foreign shops downtown are being looted, and foreigners being chased from homes and businesses. Many people who were planning to travel to Johannesburg for business this coming week are being advised not to, until we see how events unfold.

Now, last week we had a government contingent sent out to Alex, with all kinds of reasons being given for why the head honchos Zuma and Mbeki weren’t gracing the township. Winnie did though. This week, calls for deployment of the NDF (army) will obviously increase in volume.

For those who actively foment (or condone) selective violence in their backyards and imagine that their kith and kin will be safe because they have been sent to live at the southern tip of the continent, guess what? Fires have this nasty habit of spreading beyond your backyard. Not to worry though, sure that those who sent their children to study here at the start of the year, after muddying their own national waters, have enough money to evacuate them should they be threatened. For the rest of us, as always, may the good Lord help us.

Then again, like most such situations, it’s been brewing for a while (or forever). Any non-Caucasian foreigner to this country immediately feels the hostility from fellow non-Caucasians. It’s present in the demands that you ’speak the local language’, and in more rarified circles, it’s present in smart-ass comments and accusations, e.g. “you foreigners are raising the price of housing beyond the reach of locals”. So no, this does not come as a surprise. And if not dealt with decisively (and am willing to bet money that this is how the trajectory will go) it will quickly move from townships to suburbs (where the money’d foreigners reside) and will move beyond smoldering tension to explosions in the workplace.

I suppose one may decide to continue with one’s traveling circus journey, but until when? The alternatives are to move to yet another African country and await its explosion, while continuing to experience the nonsense that is always heaped on ‘foreigners’, or to move to Northern countries where the xenophobia continues and is compounded by racism, lousy weather, general misery, and lack of places where you can talk and laugh as loudly and as freely as your African soul would like. At some point, we as Africans have to decide enough is enough and that we are not moving another micrometer. We need to address the violence and make sure impunity never again darkens our doorways.

Update: Unable to confirm the deployment of paramilitary troops I’d heard about.

Catalysts

[image source]

How time flies… May already. Still working on the MZ posts. A (figurative) cat’s got my tongue. Will let you know (by posting) once I wrestle free. In the meantime:

This month marks the second year since my blogging debut. Below is the piece that pushed me over the edge and onto the world wide web as part of a late majority? on the blogosphere.
Short version: I spammed my contact list with this little rant and it ended up in print media. Without my permission. It’s called ethics in Africa (yes! I am dumping on the motherland). The whole incident learned me a great deal though, and if I had to do it over again, I would do the same thing, making sure to include a disclaimer that said “not to be republished without author’s permission,” for those members of the School For The Gifted (SFTG) who don’t understand that a private email is just that!

Some may argue that I also belong to the SFTG if I put out something (remotely) controversial and expect it not to end up hurting me. Me? Am quite sadly delayed at quixotism central, and still some distance from the nearest exit.

Oh, I did follow up and discovered that there’s a disconnect between the journalists and the experts, so the messages and knowledge were not communicated effectively. Also, the journalists are not necessarily trained to report science stories, further diminishing quality of coverage. Hey, that’s what my research found, so from a lofty position of 20/20 hindsight 2 years on, no one was at fault. It was just kukosa bahati.

Of dead dolphins and (dead) science

Know what, I didn’t think i was a “bunny hugger” until I got terribly saddened at reading of the demise of HUNDREDS of dolphins in Zanzibar (last friday). Truly the end is nigh. Couldn’t hold back a shout of laughter though, when I read that “those who had eaten the dead dolphin meat were doing fine the following day“. Guess that is when the hard working fisheries officials concluded the dolphins were not poisoned, they were simply… lost. Well, glad to see we humans aren’t the only ones who are ‘lost’ and on the path to self-destruction.

So now, because we ate the money for the forensic labs, the Swedes (ok ok it’s us that I’m really mad at) took samples back to their labs in Sweden to test them there. What capacity will that build in Africa I wonder. And I don’t see these mass die-offs stopping, meaning that every time there’s one, the swedes will pick up the tab on the lab work, while we get a few starving fishers to eat the meat so we can determine whether or not the level of poison in the dolphins was high enough to affect a skinny chap after one meal. (note that there’s been a bi-lateral agreement in place for at least the past 10 years between Tanzania and Sweden to train marine scientists. Many have graduated from this program, but clearly… no one studied this aspect of marine science).

Of course it was sonar that killed them!! We just need to find and fine the culprits. Hmmm I wonder who would be pinging the waters of the indian ocean about now… very difficult to tell… THREE HUNDRED (and by other accounts, up to 600) DOLPHINS… how long will it take to bring back those numbers? Probably never. You know… that vanishing biodiversity story finally sinks in, how can it not when this example is so graphic? This means the dugong (mermaids) were probably also buggered and just unobtrusively sank to the ocean floor leaving the smart dolphins to swim ashore and inform us of the genocide (a la ‘hitchhiker’s guide‘).

And are we serious when we claim to have marine research institutes which can’t figure out conclusively what happened? (other than… whatever it was wasn’t ingested ’cause the dissected dolphin tummies were empty). They don’t have up-to-the-minute satellite info, they can’t trace toxic algal blooms/pollution spills or hotspots, they’re not listening underwater… So I suppose it would be difficult to know what happened to them.

And what of disaster preparedness? Isn’t this a natural disaster? Where are the rescue crews? No, not to rescue the dolphins (I’m not thaaaat much of a hugger) but to assist the villagers and fishermen in burying the carcasses (and giving people like me the chance to own a complete and flawless bottlenose dolphin skeleton – any entrepreneurs out there? lots of money to be made from this… just wait for the final tox results though- and cut me in on …10% of net). Oh, and let’s not forget that ever present fear that “it will affect tourism”. I know it would affect my consumption of seafood for a while. What a hoax! And the tragedy is that on any given day, we can decide to turn it all (this mess) around, and we CAN succeed.

Another priceless quote: “Residents had cut open the animals’ bellies to take their livers, which they use to make waterproofing material for boats.” Glad to see there were positive outcomes. Lakini, knowing that there was inevitably someone who was … no, not loitering but, ‘enjoying some leisure time at the beach’, why didn’t they raise the alarm or help the animals? Not that it would have mattered anyway, once they beach themselves they’re usually not interested in returning to deeper water…. besides, who would have come to help? Seriously though, we have to cease and desist being such hoaxes and allowing nothing (but corruption) to work in our countries!

Oh, but how can I stay upset for long when I find gems like this opening statement from Daily News in TZ: “In unprecedented move, about 300 dolphins were yesterday found dead in the Zanzibar waters of the Indian Ocean.” Then there’s the promising title of an article, “Cause of dolphins deaths to be made public today” in which a marine expert indicates: ”We are at a crucial stage of our investigations. We shall make public the report any time tomorrow (today),” and informs us the number of dolphins that died has been revised upward to over 600, and that divers who had been used in finding the dead marine wildlife ‘called off the exercise yesterday’, and finally lays bare the fact that we simply play at science and research by confirming that “The government [is waiting] for the results of the samples that were sent to Sweden to determine how they died”. Just two questions: does someone sit there and randomly pick stock phrases/expressions to insert into news stories? (yes dolphin brains are about as heavy as human brains, but still… ‘an exercise to find dead marine wildlife’??) And this “unprecedented move”, was it by the dolphins or by those who found them?

Another one: “Local residents say the north of the island has had strong winds and heavy rains, as well as big tidal water movement due to the new moon.” … last I checked, there was a tsunami a couple of years ago that was bigger than puny storm winds and spring tides, and we didn’t see this sort of thing.

Checked out a couple of pictures, one of a marine biologist dissecting a carcass (no protective clothing in sight), and another of someone (fisher?) wading in the water, among the dead dolphins…(not to mention the villagers spiriting away chunks of free meat). The dedication (to science and stomach) is great but let’s say maybe…. just maybe… it was a red tide that had killed SIX HUNDRED! Dolphins… would you really want to be in the water/touch them without some form of protection?

“We believe that the dead dolphins are the immigrants from Southern Africa. They are not Zanzibar dolphins, so Zanzibaris, and specifically the tourism department, should not worry, we still have our dolphins” [and aren't we glad to hear that nature has finally! socked-it-to southern africa? NATURE doesn't sleep!].