From African Renaissance to African Ruin - The devastating (and lasting) implications of the xenophobic attacks on South Africa
By GERRIE SWART (1)
The devastating xenophobic attacks that rocked South Africa in May 2008 have betrayed serious flaws in post-1994 and especially post-1999 South Africa and holds potentially grave threats and challenges for South Africa beyond 2009.
The attacks that were unleashed on Alexandra township spread rapidly to large parts of Johannesburg’s townships and as far a field as Cape Town and has undoubtedly created a state of emergency, where between 50,000 and 100,000 people have been displaced. Over 60 people succumbed to the brutal and vicious attacks that were carried out by mobs of angry residents, while nearly 670 people were injured.
The gravest casualty in the aftermath of the xenophobic attacks is the present ruling-ANC Government’s inability to ensure safety, security and political stability. The xenophobic attacks also revealed various critical Government Departments’ total incompetence to respond to serious emergency situations that arguably has serious effects on the country’s overall national security.
The Government’s response has been largely focused on damage control and the country’s security and intelligence services share much of the blame in not providing timely, effective and actionable intelligence in pre-empting the crisis situation that has been fomenting for many years now. Ample reports had been produced by various reputable research organisations sounding ominous warnings of simmering tensions and the potential of violence. Regrettably many more will be produced, including yet another violent chapter.
Political leaders and commentators have also criticised President Thabo Mbeki for using television and radio to address the nation instead of undertaking tours to the various ravaged townships and thus showing the South African Government’s firm and unwavering resolve not to be intimidated by destabilising forces whether spontaneous or planned.
The ANC National Executive Committee meeting criticised the cabinet for not treating the violence as a national emergency. An increasingly tension-laden ruling party has also adopted vastly different approaches to the crisis, as the ANC deployed Executive Members, including ANC President Jacob Zuma, to hotspots across Gauteng to urge communities to end the conflict. In some alliance circles, echoes are already spreading across the country for the President to step down and for early elections to be held-a scenario with its own troubling and disquieting implications!
At the heart of the current crisis plaguing South Africa is the scandalous lack of effective border control - another major failure and gross oversight by the South African Government, particularly the defunct Department of Home Affairs.
A delegation of MPs who visited the scenes of xenophobic violence will strongly recommend to Parliament that the army be called in to patrol South Africa’s porous borders. The call by 19 parliamentarians, led by ANC MP Obed Bapela, follows a damning report by the Auditor-General’s office, released on 28 May 2008, into the disastrous border control.
The 19-page report says that only 283 police officers are guarding the borders although 970 are required for the job. It also states that the eight passenger and 223 goods trains that pass through the borders weekly are generally not subjected to inspections. In some areas, border fences are of an “inadequate height or strength” to serve as effective barriers against illegal immigrants.
Other recommendations by the multiparty delegation include fast-tracking the Refugees Act, which will give the Director-General of Home Affairs powers to establish registration offices in all provinces to speed up applications from asylum seekers.
All recommendations that should have been implemented years ago!
The chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs Patrick Chauke did not inspire any confidence whatsoever with his startling admission that lack of proper control at border posts has led to an influx of illegal immigrants.
Leader of the task team Obed Bapela said they would draft a preliminary report in three weeks time. This would then be debated in the National Assembly. Bapela’s startling admission however is cause of even greater concern in the Government’s ability to govern by stating that: "We do not have a solution for the situation”
The deployment of the SANDF to troubled townships had been relatively successful in curbing further attacks from taking place. Yet the army should be deployed at the country’s first line of defence to ensure a more potent outcome - its borders to prevent illegal immigration and thus the influx of thousands of illegal immigrants to an already vastly overstretched South African immigration system that is teetering on complete collapse!
The xenophobic attacks have unleashed a Pandora’s Box of other troubling scenarios, which could easily transpire. ANC Treasurer Mathews Phosa said he was disgusted by the recent spate of xenophobic attacks and warned that they could spark ethnic conflicts. The failure to heed this warning could have untold consequences for the future of South Africa.
Whether the attacks were deliberately unleashed or caused by the growing disillusionment with the country’s staggering poverty rates and decay of the South African state, they have revealed a critical weakness in the country’s ability to respond to major security threats.
The major theme that belies the current crisis that has severely tarnished South Africa’s image as a bastion of stability on a troubled and war-ravaged continent, is that the country’s utopian ideal of achieving an African Renaissance is now in ashes.
(1) Gerrie Swart is Head Researcher: Conflict & Terrorism Unit. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences, University of South Africa, and a Research Associate with the Centre for International Political Studies, University of Pretoria (gerrie.swart@consultancyafrica.com).
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