Socio-economics at the heart of South Africa's xenophobic shame
- sinethemba zonke
- Sep 19, 2018
- 3 min read
Socio-economics should be understood as one of the critical elements that have led to the recent xenophobic violence in South Africa. Over the past 20 years, there has been an increasing divide between those in government and those who are governed. This divide is exemplified by the growing inequality within the black population, with those well connected to government reaping the economic benefits since 1994 while a large number still live in abject poverty. South Africa is in a unique position as a migrant accepting country in that it has one of the strongest economies in a continent of poverty ( despite it being stuck in the doldrums at a growth of about 2%), but also harbours its own poverty stricken population which has been marginalised to the fringes in the post-apartheid era. This has resulted in a fight at the lowest end of the country’s class structure amongst the have-nots.
An interesting fact to note is that the current xenophobic crisis of 2015 mimics that of 2008, which occurred during a period of electricity constraints and an unstable economic climate resulting from the global recession. The 2008 attacks also came ahead of the 2009 elections. In 2015, South Africa is facing a similar series of issues. Suffering economically as a result of a commodities slowdown and the declining mining sector; the country is also experiencing another electricity crisis caused by delays in completing new power stations and the failure of power utility Eskom to carry out necessary maintenance in a timely manner. In 2016, South Africans will head to the polls for municipal and local governments elections. At municipality and local government levels, the ruling ANC is at its weakest as these represent the core areas of service delivery dissatisfaction. The ruling party may face a serious threat from political upstarts, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA). The move to shuffle former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to local government has been with the view to fix the problems at this level ahead of these elections. Gordhan is called ‘Mr Fix-It’ as a result of the work he did to restructure the South African Revenue Services (SARS) into one of the most respected and well run institutions in government. However, it will be a tall order for him as he will be swimming against a tide of ANC vested interests in the chaotic status quo at lower levels of government.
Service delivery issues are a thread that can be traced back to before the 2008 riots, linking all the way back to the beginning of democratic governance. There is a major disjuncture between what has been promised and what has been done - which enrages many communities. When in the midst of these unmet expectations there are certain groups of people who seem to be thriving, either through opening businesses or occupying free houses, community members may identify vulnerable scapegoats for their anger. Foreigners are marginalised by government institutions when they get into South Africa. If they are not simply ignored by the police and tax system, they are harassed by unscrupulous individuals within government bureaucratic and police institutions. Foreigners therefore, as an even more marginalised and unprotected group, become easy targets for community frustration, anger and, truthfully speaking, mere mischief. Communities use this anger and violence against foreigners as a cry out for government attention.
People in South Africa are extremely dissatisfied with a government that seems to be unwilling or unable to listen. Those in government have grown deaf to the appeals of their constituencies, particularly outside election times. Complaints are only ever responded to when communities become violent. The Centre for the study of Violence and Reconciliation has dubbed such protests the “Smoke that calls”, highlighting the high level response that the South African government gives to community issues when destruction and violence ensues.
It becomes a repetitive cycle when government fails to deal with critical complaints as soon as community anger simmers down only to erupt at a later stage. This has been the same with the deep seated xenophobia in South African society, where the state has not only failed to respond but has moved to deny that the problem even exists. In order to avoid future xenophobic violence as well as further social disruptions caused by despondency in South African society, government needs to honestly confront the underlying issues.
Sinethemba Zonke is a political analyst and commentator
Originally published on the africapractice blog here: http://www.africapractice.com/blogposts/page/18/?id=11511
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