At the current rate of globalisation, barely a day goes by without a headline-grabbing story blaming immigrants and would-be immigrants for the problems that nations are facing. Up until recently, this blame-game used to be exclusive to rich nations who constantly blamed immigrants for problems such as low wages, unemployment, increased crime rates, shortages in housing, overflowing number of students in a class, pressures on health services, and most recently, traffic jam! “Immigrants clog-up our roads – I now have to spend up to four hours a day communing to and from work. It is the immigrants from Africa, India, Pakistan, and Eastern Europe taking up all the space on our roads, don’t you think?” asked one seemingly angry colleague who gazed into my eyes waiting for an explanation. As I gathered my thoughts to shade light to the question-in-waiting, it quickly dawned on me how amateurish my colleague was in the complaints arena; a few days earlier on 17th April, a woman named Katie Hopkins had authored an article in Britain’s tabloid newspaper, The Sun, where she wrote this: Rescue boats? I’d use gunships to stop migrants. In the column, Ms Hopkins referred to the 900 migrants who recently perished in the Mediterranean Sea as cockroaches (presumably to be crushed), something that is a reminder of the rhetoric used in Rwanda in 1994 to galvanise support for the extermination of the Tutsi. From there, I knew that my explanation to my colleague was going to take more than just a few words here and there – and so I decided to write this. By now, we are all sadly familiar with the events that have unfolded in South Africa over the last few weeks. At the last count, seven Africans lost their lives, over 5,000 have been displaced, and many more have abandoned their properties and business to return to their countries or origin. The last few weeks have been unbearable for non-South Africans, especially black Africans living in South Africa. But what is this toxic ‘fear’ that is Xenophobia? As far as explanations go, xenophobia is an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange. Breaking down this definition, it is almost impossible to explain how and why South Africans can possibly have a fear of other Africans! How can Africans appear as strangers in their own continent? How can we be foreigners when we share the same physical complexions as South Africans? How can we be foreigners when our cultures and histories are intertwined? How can we be strangers when as Africans we collectively defeated the apartheid regime through military and economic support given to the ANC? How can we be ‘foreigners’ and ‘strangers’ after all this? This logic beats me! So, if it isn’t logically fear of ‘foreigners’ fuelling these attacks, what is it? In my opinion, much like the current migrant-blame-game in Europe, America and elsewhere, some South African leaders have embarked on a tirade of blaming migrants for the country’s underlying problems of severe unemployment, high crime rates, shortage in housing, and much more. To put this into perspective, South Africa, like many other countries today, is facing chronic youth unemployment; figures from the World Bank indicate that 53.6 per cent of those aged 15 – 24 were unemployed in 2013. This, I believe, is where the problem lies, and South African leaders have seemingly ignored this fact and instead resorted to pointing fingers to migrants in hope that they will escape accountability and what awaits every leader; delivery of results. For instance, before the violence erupted, it is alleged that the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, had used his influence to demand all foreigners to pack and leave the country. This, the King seemed to imply that the problem is with others, not them. To suggest that African migrants have stolen all South African jobs is a matter of simplifying what is otherwise a big problem. While it is true that migrants do generate competition for local jobs, a combination of actual and potential economic growth they bring leads to job creation in many cases. For example, nations such as Singapore, Canada, Australia, and UAE were able to harness the advantages that migrants bring in order to propel their economies to great heights. The UK rakes in a staggering £8 billion from foreign students, while most other nations are now electronic hubs, service hubs and investment hubs, thanks to migrants. Simply put, migrants welcomed by these nations have contributed to the growth of the economic pie, which allows support for more jobs. Ultimately, it is unequivocally inexcusable for anyone, youth, adult or leader, to engage in hatred activities like those that have unfolded in many parts of South Africa over the last few weeks. If South Africans want to retain dignity of humanity, civilisation and more importantly the Africanism that we all share, they must objectively analyse what their underlying problems are and draw up solutions instead of inciting hatred and inciting desperate youths into thinking that fellow Africans who have migrated to the country are to blame for their problems. Likewise, leaders must speak up to remove all doubt that migrants are to blame. Migrants should not be dehumanised and robbed of their basic rights that include protection of their movement. junior.mutabazi@yahoo.co.uk
