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Poverty and Xenophobia in Southern Africa
by Chris Webb
Being South African, I’ve followed the unfolding political situation in Zimbabwe with dismay and outrage. Most recently, I’ve been making the seemingly obvious connections between the situation in Zimbabwe, the xenophobic violence that ignited South Africa last month, and the ANC’s political/economic policies that keep millions in poverty. The tragedy of last month was the culmination of years of neo-liberal economic reforms (see economic apartheid) and increasing migrant labour from countries with despotic regimes (see Zimbabwe).
Now President Thabo Mbeki in South Africa and Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe are old struggle comrades, but their economic approaches couldn’t be more different. While Mbeki is noted for saying, “just call me a Thatcherite,” Mugabe peppers his speeches with delusional rantings about another British invasion and increases his economic isolation.
And while Mbeki continues his policy of quiet diplomacy, famously declaring “there is no crisis in Zimbabwe,” the repression of political opposition, trade unions, and now threatened civil war, continues in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. No surprise that Mbeki has been slammed for doing nothing. But why he continues to do nothing remains a mystery. Even his erstwhile confidante vice pres. Jacob Zuma has been critical of his role—or lack thereof.
Which brings us to the xenophobic attacks throughout South Africa. These shocked me. It was the first time the armed forces had been used since election violence in 1994, and the barbarous ‘necklace’ made a reappearance. The political situation in SA is hard to predict at the best of times, but few saw this coming. They should have.
In 2006, a colleague at the Sunday Times, one of the nation’s leading papers, told me about massive raids in the Alexandria township on communities of refugee Zimbabweans who had fled the country when inflation was around 50,000 per cent (it currently sits at 164,900%). With the political and economic situation worsening, I could only see things getting worse on both sides of the border.
Sure enough, xenophobic sentiments boiled over into violent attacks and killings of immigrants, both legal and non. One of the obvious causes of the violence was foreigners competing with locals for jobs and essential services in communities where both were scarce. Ahead of the 2010 soccer world cup, a growth in the construction sector has increased demand for cheap labour and pushed many from their land. This dispossession and immmigrants snatching up valuable jobs fueled the rage.
No solid reasons have been given by the government for the violence, but then again, most people know why. The ANC government’s failure to deliver on it’s 1994 election promises, and cater to the interests of foreign capital instead of the needs of its people has pushed the unemployment rate to nearly 45 per cent.
To help the poor, the ANC government has responded with a Macro economic growth policy of privatization and liberalization that has given rise to a small black bourgeoisie. In fact, Mbeki warned in a 1999 election speech that there is a “danger of a mounting rage” from those who have not benefited from his self-styled African renaissance-capitalism. He should have heeded his own words.
Anyway, so what does this have to do with Zimbabwe? Well, in a recent statement Mbeki called on the “youth of the nation” to fight these waves of xenophobia. “One of your immediate and critical responsibilities is to protect our fellow Africans who live in our country from the cowardly attacks by criminals, which we have seen here in Cape Town and other parts of our country in the last few weeks,” he said. But it fell to the youth wing of the Communist Party to provide an explanation for the despicable attacks: “We strongly believe that these attacks are a manifestation of an embedded failure by our nascent democratic government to provide quality services to all our people and an absence of leadership from the high echelons of power.”
If Mbeki believed in “protecting our fellow Africans,” he would show some real leadership in next week’s run-off election in Zimbabwe. In seeing that the run-off elections are fair and that the situation in Zimbabwe changes dramatically, Mbeki can begin to address some of the problems in his own country. It’s a far cry from the re-distribution of wealth that is needed (and was promised) in South Africa, but nevertheless it may help bring desperate Zimbabweans back to their homes and the hope of a prosperous future.
Chris Webb is a journalist and activist living in Toronto. He is currently the Publishing Assistant at Canadian Dimension magazine and a Communications Officer with SEIU-Local 1 Canada. Read more by Chris Webb.
Well written spider.
#1. Posted by Fahim on June 19th 2008 at 1:41am