Xenophobia

Some of you may have heard of the recent violence that has erupted in SA. Here is the basic primer: during Apartheid, the population was separated into 7 ethnic groups, based entirely on appearances. (Even if you had lighter skin than your parents, you could be classified as a different race than them. For example, the pencil test was used to determine if you were black or coloured - if a pencil stuck in your hair, you were black, if it slid through, you were coloured) People here are still (not surprisingly) obsessed with these distinctions, now with four main groups: White, Black, Indian, and Coloured, which is a non-derogatory term here for people of mixed race. These distinctions go further though - tribal differences are extremely important. It is said that the President of the governing party, who has been accused of rape and is currently being prosecuted for fraud, was chosen because he is Zulu and not Xhosa.

Poverty is a huge issue in this country, with a large proportion of the population living in crowded townships with high levels of unemployment. Daily life can be a struggle here, so it is understandable that resentments may arise when foreigners come and find work. They are happy to find any work in a country where employment is challenging to find, even if they get paid less than the worth of the position. This makes it harder for the locals to get the jobs, as well as results in lower wages because the employers know they can employ foreign workers for less.

Another reason that foreigners are getting the jobs is that they are better trained. Refugees from Mozambique and Zimbabwe have much higher levels of education than South Africans from similar backgrounds, and thus it is easier for them to get jobs. There is a shortage of skilled labourers in this country, the solution to which is either foreign labour or education, and the latter is much more expensive. Foreigners are fulfilling a need, which may be one of the reasons the government has not tried to keep track of the number of illegal immigrants that arrive in the country daily.

There are many reasons why there are tensions between people in this country, but it is unclear why violence against foreigners has erupted so violently lately. Xenophobia, which is defined in this context as the fear of foreigners, has calmed down lately, but is still a huge issue. The townships outside of Jo’burg were enflamed with hatred first, but this spread to other areas, including Durban. Foreigners fled from their homes with nothing because of the violence - threatened and real. The news coverage here is much more graphic, so stories and pictures of people being beaten with axe handles and cement posts, and then being burned alive, were plastered in the media. Police stations became refuges for people, many of whom are refugees from their own countries in the first place. Even though the violence has calmed down lately, there are still people who do not feel safe enough to go to their homes, camps were set up, with care taken to situate people of similar backgrounds together.

Xenophobic violence has not been directed at me, but my friends from Zambia and Zimbabwe have been harassed. One test that is performed to determine if a person is from SA is to ask them what the Zulu term for elbow is. Since it is such an uncommon term, a non-native would not easily respond, resulting in harassment. This has happened on campus, which is scary.

The situation has calmed down since the violence first arose, even though the government has chosen not to address this issue. With the Red Cross and community groups organizing aid for those affected by the violence, the perception is that foreigners are continuing to get better treatment, continuing the resentment between SA nationals and others. It has been eye-opening to be present for the development of this issue: at home I would sympathize, but feel separated from it. Now that I know people who have been touched, it is much harder to do that.