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?
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.
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