It was only a matter of time before the government found a scapegoat for the xenophobic violence gripping SA. For almost two weeks now our major cities have been trashed by marauding gangs of criminals. They have been looting whatever they can carry, attacking people and setting vehicles and buildings on fire. All in the name of fighting illegal immigrants. There has been little response by the law enforcement and security agencies.
The honour of serving up the scapegoat fell to Naledi Pandor, usually one of the smartest ministers: she blamed apartheid! The international relations & co-operation minister met African diplomats to ease tensions triggered by the violence so vividly televised as the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa met in Cape Town. She had to explain, and blamed apartheid.
Those perpetrating the violence say they are targeting and expelling undocumented immigrant Africans. This is a cover-up for a looting frenzy against hard-working people trying to earn an honest living.
What Pandor neglected to say was that the deepening inequality and poverty were brought about by her own party
In the meeting with the diplomats, Pandor said political freedom attracted all sorts of people into SA, Africa’s most developed and open economy, to try to earn a living. Then she had this to say: "All this occurred alongside a complex and toxic mix of socioeconomic challenges. The legacy of apartheid was deep and rigidly entrenched inequality for black people."
Then, suddenly, it would seem, Pandor remembered that apartheid officially ended 25 years ago, and that her party, the ANC, has been in power since. In the early years of democracy, Pandor added, South Africans had a "generally peaceful coexistence" with the growing immigrant population, until desperation and frustration sparked by deepening poverty started.
"While political and civil freedom soothed the wounds of apartheid, the long-term and worsening economic inequality has deepened resentment and caused antipathy towards brothers and sisters from other African countries, and it is this anger and antipathy that we have to confront, eradicate and respond to," she said. What Pandor neglected to say was that the deepening inequality and poverty were brought about by the corruption and incompetence of her own comrades, particularly during the past 10 years.
Damaged
Also, the government long ago gave up on border policing, causing uncontrolled immigration to flood the bursting cities. That and SA’s complicity in Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown are by far the biggest causes of the current violence and deprivation. As Pandor met the diplomats, two more people were killed in Joburg in xenophobic attacks by some mine hostel residents.
President Cyril Ramaphosa intended using the WEF talkshop to showcase SA as an investment destination. Instead, the country advertised itself as anything but. The conflict began in Pretoria after a taxi driver was shot dead, apparently by a foreigner he was trying to stop from selling drugs to schoolchildren. A week later, more than 10 people have been murdered. Damage to businesses will cost hundreds of millions to fix.
SA’s image has been soiled. This kind of violence, visited by some South Africans on foreigners they blame for their own poverty and unemployment, has flared sporadically since 2008. The security forces have still not devised a plan to pre-empt it. Even if they could, it would be plastering over deep wounds. The real cause of xenophobic attacks is poverty and joblessness, as some of the men meeting over the issue in a Joburg park pointed out. Their key demand is for the government "to restore iGoli to what it used to be", as one induna said — that is, a place that used to offer jobs and economic opportunities to law-abiding citizens who came in from the countryside.
Blaming apartheid won’t change the situation.
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