Un-African

19 May 2008



Google
WWW Kensington Review

Anti-Immigrant Violence Kills 22 in South Africa

In the last week, 22 people have been killed in South Africa in anti-immigrant violence. Hundreds have taken refuge in police stations in some of the townships, and thousands have nowhere to go. This problem won’t go away anytime soon, though, because the wealth and relative prosperity of South Africa attract immigrants from places like Zimbabwe and Mozambique where things are much worse.

Police spokesperson Govindsamy Mariemuthoo, said, “An update has shown 22 have been killed since the start of the violence last week and 217 have been arrested.” The opposition Democratic Alliance [DA] has demanded that the government call in the military to restore order. Jack Bloom, DA spokesperson for the Gauteng area, stated, “This is a typical Mbeki situation of ‘Crisis, what crisis?’, where real action is not taken and the situation is getting worse.”

The immigrants have come because South Africa has jobs, especially in the mining and manufacturing segments. In Zimbabwe, for example, there is nothing comparable. Inflation there is in the six figures, and unemployment is easily 80%.

However, immigrants compete for jobs with black South Africans who are still not doing well financially. This inevitably results in hard feelings, and it has finally blossomed into rioting. The Washington Post reported, “Sibonisiwe Moyo, 23, said she came to Alexandra from Zimbabwe in 2004 and was living happily with her husband and their 4-month-old son. They had few problems until a mob came to their home Sunday night. When her husband went outside to investigate while carrying their son, the boy was struck with a rock hurled by an attacker. Moyo's husband suffered wounds on his neck and abdomen. She recalled the men shouting, ‘Zimbabweans must go back home’!”

The Mbeki government is setting up a panel that will look into the problem. However as Mr. Bloom has said, that is not enough. “A panel can try to find long-term solutions for the service-delivery problems, corruption and crime. But the situation is getting out of control. Criminals are jumping on the bandwagon and we are seeing various copycat situations that need to be stopped,” he said.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Kensington Review Home