By Kalima Nkonde
Are South Africans blacks xenophobic or do African Leaders share the blame for the scourge and need to learn lessons?
The Xenophobia or more appropriately Afrophobic attacks in South Africa have been widely condemned and rightly so but there has been a superficial outlook at the problem.
The South African blacks have been roundly condemned but my take, as a person who lived in a number of foreign countries including South Africa and has a hands on experience and a helicopter view of the problem is rather a bit more objective. I would like to share my broader view of problem while outlining the root causes of the xenophobic attacks through a holistically approach because the causes are both internal and external.
It is important to point out that African countries leaders and their economic mismanagement is partly to blame.
To start with, my experience and most African people in South Africa is that a substantial number of South African blacks have two major psychological problems that are a direct result of the hundreds of years of apartheid and racial description..
[pullquote]The second psychological problem they have is a misplaced superiority complex towards their African brothers and sisters.[/pullquote]
The first problem is that they have an inferiority complex towards whites and an intense hatred for whites to an extent that had it not been for “ Saint” Nelson’s reconciliation policy, they could avenged the hundreds of years of injustice in a negative way thereby destroyed their sophisticated economy. The second psychological problem they have is a misplaced superiority complex towards their African brothers and sisters.
This superiority complex is premised on the fact that South Africa is the most industrialised country in Sub Saharan Africa with first world infrastructure. The blacks feel they are superior than other africans because they effectively live in “ Europe” but they do not recognize the fact that the infrastructure was built by the white man and they should just be “grateful” beneficiaries! You will hear some black South Africans telling fellow Africans viz: “which part of Africa are you from?”.
They somehow do not feel they are part of Africa! They also just do not accept that Black Africans can be better than them because of having been independent much earlier than them and therefore had better and superior education and had been exposed to more advanced western education in Europe and America.
They are in denial of this fact until when the fellow African proves otherwise. When they do, they become jealous. This mindset cuts across all social strata of South African blacks whether educated or uneducated apart from those who have been exposed and have lived abroad before and after independence.
It is when a fellow African proves to be smarter than a South African blacks because of his education , experience and exposure that xenophobic mentality sets in. In high density areas with high poverty and unemployment levels, it manifests itself in the violence that we are seeing from time to time.
The level of ignorance by South African blacks about Africa especially and their lack of exposure is part of the problem that is the route cause of Afrophobia. If you went to any high density area in South Africa, you will be lucky to get a person with a passport who has travelled to any of the neighbouring countries.
There are Batswana speaking South Africans in the North West towns like Rustenburg who have never travelled to their tribes mate in Botswana which is just two hours away! You would not say the same about Mozambicans, Zimbabweans ,Botswana , Zimbabwe and Zambia where even semi illitrates have gone across borders! These guys just do not travel outside South Africa and the old proverb of my mother language, Bemba says : Umwana ashenda, atashishe Nyina ukunaya ubwali “ (WHICH MEANS A CHILD WHO NEVER TRAVELS WILL ALWAYS BOAST AND THINK THAT HIS MOTHER IS A BEST COOK UNTIL THEY FIND ANOTHER MOTHER WHO COOKS BETTER).
There is no doubt that the major causes of the Xenophobic attacks is the high level of poverty due to high unemployment but foreigners are not the cause of this.
South Africa’s unemployment rate is above 25% which is very high for an advanced economy like South Africa. The black foreigners, however, cannot dent this unemployment rate even if they were all to be sent home. The impact of foreign blacks on unemployment in South Africa is negligible and exaggerated and impirical evidence support this.
The foreigner are just being used as a scapegoat for the deep seated problems of the South African society and economy which the ANC has not fully addressed. The ANC government shoulders the bulk of the problem that South Africa faces, apartheid not withstanding.
The Government has failed to deliver services and jobs to the black majority and the reasons are various but corruption is one of the major reasons.
The Government has failed to deliver services like water, electricity, sanitation, housing, health to the most disadvantaged communities. The areas where Xenophobic attacks are happening are the most affected by lack of services and the affected foreigners live in those communities.
There is no Xenophobia in suburbs and that is why Zambians , Batswana, Namibians, Tanzanians, Kenyans and others are not caught up there because the bulk of the immigrants from these countries are skilled and they live in the leafy and green suburbs of Durban, CapeTown, Johannesburg etc which are metropolitan in nature.
The lack of services is largely due to the ANC’s deploying incompetent cadres in Councils at the expense of skilled whites and giving contracts to cadres who are not able to deliver. The frustration of non delivery of services and unemployment has been passed on to the unfortunate foreigners who are living within those communities and are viewed as having been the beneficiaries of the freedom struggle.
[pullquote]There is no Xenophobia in Suburbs and that is why Zambians , Batswana, Namibians, Tanzanians, Kenyans and others are not caught up [/pullquote]
It very important to also note that one of the major causes of the xenophobic attacks is the liberal immigration policy towards refugees by the South African Government.
The South African Government unlike many others in the world, naively adopted a policy of letting refugees to integrate in the various communities rather than being confined to camps like Zambia and many other countries did.
It is not surprising that the foreigners who went into the high density areas found a way of survival and saw opportunities for setting up small businesses. They did not necessary get jobs from South Africans but created their own jobs through setting up small businesses .The foreigners went on and out competed the locals in small businesses as well jobs and accepted lower wages.
The fact is that the businesses that these foreigners are running can be done by South Africans and this where Government policy could be found wanting. The question is that does South Africa need an Ethiopian, Pakistan, Somali, to run a grocery store in Soweto, Guguletu or sell Bananas and apples on the street of the Central Business district of Cape town, Johannesburg or Durban? The Answer is no! It is any government’s duty to take care of its citizens.
It is in this respect that the reservation policy where foreigners cannot engage in some of this simple and mundane activities that citizens can do should seriously be looked at. The reservation policy is one way that South African Government can reduce the influx of unskilled foreigners setting up small businesses that South Africans can do.
The other African Countries including Zambia should consider the same. The reality is foreigners will always do better than locals in most economic activities the World over but locals will not complain if the activities that foreigners engage in are those they have no competence in.
There is an issue that all Africans citizens and their Governments are not talking about and taking responsibility for! We should be honest that we have swamped South Africa with illegal immigrants especially like late British Prime Minister, Baroness Margaret Thatcher complained about Britain in the 1980s.
The numbers of African immigrants in South Africa especially the unskilled ones is unacceptably high for any country! It is my view that it is the high numbers of immigrants- legal and illegal – who have settled in high density areas that are the major cause of the problem of xenophobia today. Why should a Zambian or Zimbabwean, Somali go and settle in a shanty compound in South Africa? What value are they adding to the Country.
The cause of all this is the failure of leadership and a classic case is Zimbabwe with one of the largest immigrant population in South Africa. Zimbabweans started to go to South Africa after the meltdown of the economy after the grabbing of white farms.
It is not rocket science to discern that the failure of leadership in terms of economic management is the route cause of the uncontrolled immigration into South Africa! Let us bite the bullet and admit that our African leaders have failed us in the management of our economies and we better address this before blaming South Africa entirely.
[pullquote]The numbers of African immigrants in South Africa especially the unskilled ones is unacceptably high for any country![/pullquote]
The only problem with the South Africans involved in xenophobic attacks is the violent methodology of their protest about being swamped! You do not have to kill in order to put your grievances across.
I would want to suggest to African Governments including my Government in Zambia to consider and implement the following policies that will mitigate against the risk of their citizens being victims of xenophobia as well reduce the incentive for citizens rising against foreign nationals:
- African Countries should ensure that positive immigration policies are put in place where only qualified and experienced foreigners are able to get work permits. No unskilled foreigners should allowed and citizens should be sensitized to the same. All Countries should only attract the best foreigners so that they can pass on skills to locals . In Zambia, the Zambianisation policy under Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s UNIP of the 1970s and 1980s worked very well until the 1990s under Chiluba’s MMD. Currently,the empowerment of Zambians is no longer pronounced and does not seem to be a priority for the Government! We seem to have gone backwards where even in the mines where we had skilled manpower who were trained abroad at great expense in some of the best universities are now unemployed because the mine owners bring their own people! This is how xenophobia starts! The owners of the Country cannot be spectators in the economic success of the Country.
- Ensure that a reservation policy for certain business activities are put in place. We have to identify activities which can only be done by locals and no foreigner should be allowed .
- Ensure that progressive policies for employment creation are put in place and where possible labour intensive industries especially in agriculture and manufacturing are encouraged with incentives including tax incentives are put in place for labour intensive industries
- Ensure foreign investors are required to employ locals and there should be tax incentives given to those employing more locals.
All Africans , why is zambian depending on South africa ? Food , medical, fuel , clothing , even election papers . Zambia is one of the poorest country on earth United nations figures. How many ministers does zambia need ? To many cant even pay police or army on time .dont really see any point of so called independence.
So how is this related to the subject at hand? Read and understand what the author is conveying.
They think they have the right to kill white farmers and black foreigners!!! Every time i traveled on transit through South Africa to Europe i always felt discriminated against by black South Africans just because I CAN AFFORD TO TRAVEL BY AIR!!!
They are very jealous of anyone doing better than them, period!!
@1 I ALWAYS ADVISE THE READERSHIP TO THINK THROUGH THE ARTICLE BEFORE COMMENTING ON IT. YOUR COMMENT IS ABSOLUTELY MISPLACED. THINK BEFORE YOU INK.
BACK TO THE RIGHTER. YOU HAVE TOUCHED VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES ABOUT SA AND AFRICA IN GENERAL. BUT, CAN YOU PLEASE MIND TO EDIT YOUR ARTICLE BEFORE RUSHING TO THE MEDIA FOR PUBLICITY? OR IF YOU CAN’T (WHICH MAY BE THE CASE IN MANY INSTANCES) GIVE IT TO A COLLEAGUE TO DO IT FOR YOU. THERE ARE TOO MANY GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN YOUR EXCELLENT ARTICLE- MOST OF YOUR POINTS ARE DISTORTED. HOWEVER, THANKS FOR YOUR ARTICLE. IT’S FULL OF FACTS.
@ Peter – LOL. You’re advising the “RIGHTER” to proof his writing before rushing to the media? Eish…!
The author is silly. South Africans don’t worship whites. It is the millions of African immigrants who are accepting peanuts from white employers and undercutting the locals who refuse to work for slave labour. Aren’t these the same black people who made South Africa ungovernable? Was Sharpville , Soweto76 etc about White respect? Lastly, the author is an i.di.ot to suggest that black South Africans never played a role in building the infrastructure in that country? It is the black South Africans who have provided the majority of the labour in that country. They are the ones who have been going underground to mine Gold, Platinum, Diamonds, Manganese etc that have been used to build South Africa. I guess Copper miners have never contributed to the building of Zambia! What a silly article.
Very good analysis. very factual. I hope it can have a wider audience.
Africa Unite: From the Survival Album of 1979…Bob Marley & The Wailers,
So-o: Africa unite,
Afri – Africa unite, yeah!
Unite for the benefit (Africa unite) for the benefit of your people!
Unite for it’s later (Africa unite) than you think!
Unite for the benefit (Africa unite) of my children!
Unite for it’s later (Africa uniting) than you think!
Africa awaits (Africa unite) its creators!
Africa awaiting (Africa uniting) its Creator!
Africa, you’re my (Africa unite) forefather cornerstone!
Unite for the Africans (Africa uniting) abroad
Unite for the Africans (Africa unite) a yard!
Zedian, so you think in the rest of the dirty and disease ridden Africa there are no mines and blacks who go down to mine very precious minerals? Have ever been to Africa or do you read about Africa? If you would take away whites today from RSA, the same black elite would gang up with whites from abroad to create war that would see all that gold, diamonds, platinum etc be mined an taken away while the majority wallows in poverty. Do you think RSA was built by an African brain for Africans? May be you are partly right that it was built by black labour but for the white man.
Spot on !! I completely agree with the writer of this article. Keep it up
The 2014 GDP per Capita for Zambia is the same as that for Ghana at US$1,800. The GDP per capita for Zimbabwe is US$950, Afghanistan at US$660 and for Malawi at US$300. How can Zambia be the poorest country in the World. Please do not read propaganda Websites. The figures I have given above are World Bank statistics (IBRD) and you can check them for yourself by using a Google search for “GDP per capita Africa” and opening the World Bank site among the sites suggested.
Brilliant analysis my brother
Zambian people wake up, never cast your eyes to South Africa, South Africa has given us ways to react when inveded. A councillor informed a few days ago, Zambia is being eveded by Islam, we have seen the Mashrooming of mosques all over the country. For me Islam is even more venomoue that Xenophobia being experienced in South Africa, because it has to do with indoctination of citizens and we can finish ourselves within ourselves. Government should be told to keep this abnoxous spread of Islam to a stop, especially in Lusaka and Central Province.
It all about jobs and resources. I would not blame the Zulus for their action though a bit violent. Look at what is happening in our country. The few jobs available are taken by phillipinos, Chinese Zimbabweans. These are jobs that can be done by Zambians. Govt keeps giving work permits to these people . Surely can we not find a forklift operator in Zambia?
@rasco, hahahahahah, your spellings ……
I have to agree that the spread of Islam in Zambia is frightening and is going to cost us dearly in blood one day. Moslems are merciless and are not driven by compassion, like other religions.
Zedian,
Yes SA was built with black labour but the brains was white. and black South Africans have even started destroying what was built by the white man built. So Zedian yo argument lacks merit as it is untrue.
….good article tho I do not agree with the author on the third paragraph from the bottom were he says there must be a deliberate policy to bar foreigners from engaging in certain activities/businesses….we cannot put a blanket policy like that because there different types of foreigners living in a particular country….those who have acquired citizenship, those who have residence permit, those with just a work permit, on transit, visitors/tourists, for sporting activities and finally the infamous illegal immigrants….I have no query if that policy targeted only work permit holders, visitors and illegal characters etc….but not for the other categories….
In South Africa the constitution court declared that those with permanent residence will be considered as “citizens” when it comes to employment. But I doubt if the Zulu king understands this.
The writer is stating what is already known. How about the statement by the King? And Zuma has not condemned the killings but simply said they will assist in the repatriation of immigrants.
Imwe , the f00ls together with their chi.kala king zwelthini are just xenophobic.
It is important that govts provide for their citizens. We agree there are certain jobs for which you need exparts. But surely not a truck driver, electricians, mechanics etc. Why import mechanics from wherever when our own children have no jobs?
I agree with you. There is no way you can off-load three million of your citizens on to another country, like Zimbabwe did, and you expect the South Africans to keep quiet in the name of African unity. No. Africans should work hard and put their countries in order instead of running to other countries and in the process mess up the host countries. Chances are very high that when you are around the Park Station area in Johannesburg you are likely to be mugged by a Zimbabean. This is not to mention the drug dealers from West Africa. All illegal immigrants must go back to their countries.
Good article, however job creation is not for govt alone. Citizens need to participate in doing so.
What needs to improve is capacity building in the area of business creation which is currently very poor.
I have lived in Johannesburg for the past 18 years. In that time I have employed six maids. Four South Africans and two Zimbabweans. Two of the South Africans only worked for less than 2 months as they had to attend to “problems back home in Kwazulu Natal”. The other two did not last past the 6 months mark. Of the two Zimbabweans, one was with me for more than 8 years and in that time only missed work for two weeks when she was admitted in hospital. The other Zimbabwean has been with me for more than three years and in that time has not missed even a single day. I am now running a small business here in South Africa and will not be employing any South African drivers any time soon. Most of the black South Africans have this sense of entitlement which I find hard to understand.
Violence can never be justified. Xenophobia is in every country in the world, including USA, Germany, France, UK, but violence against foreigners is not institutionalised. What we saw in South Africa was institutionalised violence because if people can be killed on camera, it means that the police are complicit.
Zambians have always complained against ma Sene, Chinese, etc, but they have never acted like barbaric South Africans.
There was a recent march by graduates in Lusaka. They were arrested. Govt must not just ignore that march. It was sending a signal that something was not right.
Zambia needs to take stock of all un skilled foreigners including chinese seeling maize at kamwala market.i agree with the writer. you may reduce on the numbers of graduates on the street if most investors did not bring on their nationals on these projects in the mining, agriculture,health(NGOs) and education.its really sad. look at some of the big banks we have in the country, almost all the management positions are taken by foreigners. in livingstone who runs most of the hotels?foreigners. Kaunda may have been a dictator but VISIONARY.
We all know now that these XENOPHOBIA was caused by job related incident where Foreigners where recruited against locals.
We are seeing the same in Zambia where fake experts are hired against locals. Our own electricians, mechanics, bricklayers, operators are walking the streets while foreigners with no qualifications are being employed.
I do not like Xenophobia!!!! But cannot torrelate a Chinese , Lebanese coming to live in Bauleni compound selling chickens and maize cobs on our streets. This is what we are seeing in Lusaka where even Rwandese are setting up small grocery shops in Chilenge, Mutendere, kalingalinga. Govt should learn from the problems in South Africa. Zambians are peaceful people and torrelant .
South Africa is a very very violent society. The crime stats point to that. SA has the highest number of rape cases in the world. It ranks among the top in terms of car-hijakings, bank & Shopping Mall robbery, house break-in, murder etc.
Xenophobia is just one of the triggers to this violent nature of South Africans. This is NOT the last time you will of Xenophobia is South Africa. And the worst form of Xenophobia will be Institutional or Systematic Xenophobia. South African Govmt will revise it immigration laws to unfairly discriminate aganist most African immigrants. Watch the space.
South Africa treated SADC countries as independent and free nations. South Africa favored ecoconmic integration through Direct Foreign Investment in comparison to political unification. In a unified SADC, then South Africa will deal with immigration from the countries of origin directly. Is the political strategy better than then the economic strategy? I say, perhaps.
This is a wake up call for SADC states, when Smith declared UDI, KK embarked on the construction of the Tazara. This gives SADC leaders to develop their industries and kick out the south africans. Govts should support its citizens in establishning businesses. There was ZCBC, Mwaiseni stores, similar to game in the 1970s. the only problem was that managers were UNIP Cadres. How does someone move to SA to be a Taxi driver, garden boy or a maid! This is an unacceptable. Develop your own economies and South Africans will be coming to work at Nakambala as labourers
And why shouldn’t an Unskilled person move to a different country?!
To do what ?? Stealing or robbing. ??
I usually lack space to debate articles like this but in my school of thought there is no longer anything like “unskilled”. We are peddling knowledge now – yes – knowledge on how to clean best, dig a trench quick and well enough, etc. The point on “unskilled” I dismiss. You cannot bar people movement while hungering for progress. There is a contradiction there. There must be more encouragement of freer movement of peoples between and among countries and regions – a cross-fertilization of ideas and hence a quicker pace on progress. I also dismiss that idea. What I remain with is what Acemoglu called the ‘extractive’ approach of governance in a lot of African countries (nay, make that extractive economies worldwide) that have tended to centralize … out of space!
…tended to centralize their activities around mediocre political dictates and robbing productive areas to prop up deficient and usually addressable ones. We need to look closely at how we have fashioned our governance right down to the way we treat know-how, opportunity, and how we reward those that wish to be in the forefront of providing leadership in all sectors without being suspected of having POLITICAL ambition. This is a topic that needs to be addressed by all and sundry with a realization that we need to change the way we are governing ourselves right from the ground. Forget xenophobia in KZN, they have an endemic way to react to problems from the Inkhata uprising days – we, however, have a much bigger task on our hands!
While the writer has some good points, he is wrong in various ways. First of all, xenophobia is not a long term result of apartheid. The mfecane was instigated in early 1800s by Shaka and Zulus way before whites got to run Natal. The mfecane forced the Ngonis, Ndebeles and Kololos to flee northwards (as far as Uganda for branches of Ngonis). People were terrified! Even for Northern Rhodesian blacks who worked in South African mines under the Wenela scheme from 1920s onwards, stories of senseless violence were de rigeur. Violence among Zulus is cultural and all they need are reasons to unleash this thirst for blood. As for international travel, how many Zambians have travelled abroad? A cultural preference for good neighbourliness is a good predictor for harmony than international travel.
As an example of cultural preference, the Lozis in Western Province have accommodated refugees first from slavers and later Portuguese colonisers in Angola from as long as 400 yrs ago. The Mbundas were the first, then Luvales, Chokwes, Ovimbundus etc all coming in waves and each being accommodated. So culture, and not the economy, is paramount in how refugees are treated.
Another issue is that most refugees are not employable, due to lack of papers and also skills. That’s why they are self-employed or traders. Any jobs they get are low level menial jobs that locals do not want or would demand a lot of money for. This happens in USA with Mexican farm workers, UK with Polish and Hungarian plumbers and builders, Dubai and Indian workers, and Hong Kong and Indonesian maids.
When the rest of the continent mobilised resources to fight injustices to free the oppressed South African’s nobody cried foul of using up too much resources. Mozambique lost it’s leader Samora Machel during the struggle of apartheid. It’s not coincidental that that great man Nelson Mandela ended up marrying Graca Machel. South African’s have no rights to excuse xenophobia on their fellow Africans. Zambia could have been a very wealthy country if we ignored the suffering of our brothers and sisters. Economic migration has always been a part of life. Zambia itself is an example of people movements from all corners of the continent. The European union with all it’s problems has acknowledged the importance of free movement of it’s people. Africa is home to Africans full stop!
Prophete Scott summed it all:- South Africans are backwards! These are blood thirsty Monsters who don’t even know where their continent is and cant even appreciate that South African immigrants are also everywhere. Since Mukuba mall construction started we have seen over 100 South African doing works at the mall they even go to Buchi /Bulangililo grab our Sisters and we just smile at them. Try it in Tembisa or Alexandra u be gone. If you want to enjoy in South Africa go where Whites are found and not black South Africans they are violent people when in their country. The is needy to invest colossal sums to change the mind set of these killers, they think the way whites used to whip / kill them now it’s their turn to do the same on innocent immigrants.
The reason why theres all this mess and why Africa is this messed up is because the black man is cursed.south africa had the gdp that was 25% of the the whole when the niggars took over now it has dropped down to 13%.anywhere where blacks are in abundance there story is almost the same like Jamaica ,Haiti even black communities in america.a black always blames someone for his problem.eve if you present a niggar with diamonds,gold and oil he still won’t develop.you all treat mandela like a hero no he ain’t.
I will simply continue the theme of my brother OBATALA from country of sick presidents @1.7, and quote one of Bob Marley’s tunes “Ambush in the night”
“…They say what we know
Is just what they teach us;
And we’re so ignorant
‘Cause every time they can reach us
Through political strategy
They keep us hungry
And when you gonna get some food
Your brother got to be your enemy….
…. ambush in the night
they are trying to conquer me
ambush in the night
planned by society…”
Good article. Additionally, poor leadership in South Africa itself.
Southern africans r d real bush niggas