Like a steady current, the flow of attacks on foreign nationals in SA seems to know no end.
Every year, they attacks start off sporadically, then develop into an orgy of violence.
We hope this year is different.
But when unrest flared up this week in Pretoria and Diepsloot, where locals again revolted against foreigners — some of whom are in SA legally — many felt a menacing sense of déjà vu. Like in the past, the foreigners were accused of driving up the unemployment and crime rates. Again, the locals neither produced evidence that the genesis of their woes is foreigners nor showed how the elimination of foreigners will suddenly generate the jobs they yearn for.
The unrest in Diepsloot, of course, comes 14 months after police minister Bheki Cele descended on the troubled township after yet another deadly attack on foreigners. The hat-donning Cele again made promises of change to locals, saying he would bring in more police officials and vehicles to the area to eradicate crimes — many of which were blamed on foreign nationals.
The township of Diepsloot is yet to see these promises come to fruition. Locals this week said what we have always known: Cele’s solutions are transient.
Foreign nationals have shared how South Africans’ continuous attack them shows the citizens’ lack of faith in their government. African Diaspora Forum (ADF) chairperson Vusumuzi Sibanda told TimesLIVE Premium South Africans are a law unto themselves.
Anger towards foreign nationals eases public pressure on government to deliver overdue services. It shouldn’t be surprising that little is done to address xenophobia.
Attacking foreigners will not solve the issues the country faces. Instead, a resort to rampant criminality is a disincentive for potential international investors.
Furthermore, the lawmakers’ failure to act against perpetrators of violence against foreign nationals shows how SA's image of a democracy that highlights the right to life and human dignity is not worth much at all. We may have the best constitution in the world, but what purpose does it serve if we conveniently disregard it when its clauses don’t align with our ignoble deeds?
Also worrying is that anger towards foreign national eases public pressure on government to deliver overdue services. It shouldn't be surprising that little is done to address xenophobia. In reality, it should be foreign nationals and ordinary South Africans banding together against our politicians and civil servants who behave as if public service is about serving themselves first.
It is time for the SA government to honour its commitments to human rights and racial justice and take a firm stand against South Africans who perpetuate racist and xenophobic violence in the country. It may not be what populists want to hear, especially ahead of an important election, but it is what our democracy requires.
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