• 3 Comments
  

ATTACKS on foreign nationals in the greater Johannesburg area intensified over the weekend.
Last week saw brutal assaults taking place in Alexander and Diepsloot. By yesterday, the violence had spread to Thembisa, Thokoza, Jeppestown, Cleveland, Hillbrow and downtown Johannesburg itself.
The central Methodist church — the site of a recent police “show of force” against illegals has become a refuge for those affected by the violence.
By yesterday afternoon, police were present at the church in numbers to prevent an all out assault by the xenophobic mob.
How long will it be before the mob launches an assault on the church?
What is taking place in South Africa is nothing short of a major security crisis.
It’s roots lie in the reality that there are many South Africans who, 14 years into democracy, are yet to improve their lives.
All around them they see others getting ahead. Foreigners, unprotected by South Africa’s grandiose labour laws, take illegal work at exploitative salaries.
Then they establish a life on the margins, perhaps renting a house, perhaps buying an old car, perhaps sending their kids to a local school.
Because South Africa, with the notable exception of the very progressive 1994 granting of citizenship to aliens from the SADC ahead of the election, has failed to formalise the presence of foreigners, they have continued this existence on the vulnerable margins.
What is needed now is a massive security response to protect the lives and property of the innocent.
And we need to move fast to legalise and integrate our brothers and sisters from this region into our society.
They should be given a proper place in the South African sun and we should be welcoming their skills and their desire to get ahead.
Rejection is breeding hatred.

Related posts:

  1. The real reason for xenophobia: The state’s ambivalence about foreigners
  2. Xenophobic violence is back – be afraid
  3. Committee meetings and dithering are costing lives
  4. The horse has bolted! Send in the soldiers!
  5. Service delivery: Is there a force fanning the violence?

 

Comments

 

ProRSA

May 18, 2008 at 5:42 pm

Those that are here legally have all the god given right to live here as South African citizens. As for the rest of the article, it’s rubbish. Illegals are illegals. They should be and have always been deported. Ala Lindela near Krugersdorp. Now that the citizens are getting involved we should integrate illegals into society all of a sudden? If the illegal footprint was in the 10′s of thousands it would be ok. BUT 5 MILLION! 12% of the population? The government has failed and it’s hiding behind the aftermath, XENOPHOBIA, instead of fixing the problem. ABJECT POVERTY!

 

Olanrewaju Oranyeli

May 19, 2008 at 10:51 am

As a foreigner contributing my quota of sweat and hard work (legally) in a country as diverse as South Africa, it pains me to see such morbid acts in this amazing country.
People are generally scared of what they do not understand and the fear of God brings about wisdom and awareness of all that is around you.
I work among highly educated and knowledgeable people that are diverse in race and culture and I have never felt any form of xenophobia towards me; so does it mean that you have to be educated and intelligent to see the bigger picture?
As far as I am concerned, as far as people do not have a common goal then they are lost, we can only thrive if we come together as one.
How long will this continue before the government do something about it? Is it until these marauders are tired of facing foreigners and turn to whites and those in power?

Something has to be done, this amazing country cannot be left alone to rot from within; it is too much of a price to pay.

Olanrewaju Oranyeli

 

gracie_ftr

May 19, 2008 at 11:09 pm

None of the Zimbabweans want to stay in South Africa, so it is really a mistake to qualify them as illegal alien squatters deserving immediate deportation. Moreover many of them are skilled middle class teachers, lawyers and doctors or other professionals who have more job opportunities than semi-literate South Africans in from the countryside looking for work and who end up hawking identical cell phones to the guy two blocks down on the Hillborrow pavement. Part of the problem has been Thabo Mbeki’s failure to address the crisis in Zimbabwe and the Zimbabweans who have fled the country fearing for their lives the same way opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai did. He was in Botswana and came to Johannesburg instead of returning home to contest the new election date when it was learned that a hit squad had him in their cross hairs. People like Bishop Paul Verryn of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg should be given all the assistance they deserve and a little media attention wouldn’t hurt either. The Bishop believes his church’s mission is one of reaching out and helping those who would help themselves… Ask him if the majority of 1400 refugees in his church are keen on staying? They want to go home and rebuild their own country!!

Leave a Comment