As a nation that has battled against the injustices of apartheid, we pride ourselves on being survivors. We believe that we are a tolerant people and that we have learned from the injustices of our painful past. We believe that we are a strong nation with good values and morals, and equal opportunities for all. Unfortunately, none of this is true anymore.
Xenophobia has reared its ugly head in South Africa once more. In the past few days, there have been a number of attacks on foreign nationals. Protesters have taken to violence, and foreign nationals are terrified.
These attacks can be irrationally justified by the mindset of most people—that the foreigners are stealing our jobs and committing crimes. But could it also be that these xenophobic attacks are just a manifestation of discontent with our government’s inability to secure its citizens, and the citizen’s inability to progress? The unemployment rate in South Africa is extremely high, and the rising anger at personal inhibitions and government faults has been conveniently aimed at people who have come into our country. Instead of addressing the fact that our nation is cracking, it has become all too easy to blame our country’s flaws on foreign nationals. Now, the reasons behind these attacks have become completely distorted—South Africans do not fear those who are different, it is simply a case of anger and jealousy at seeing others progress on their own accord. This is also because of the sense of entitlement that many South Africans possess. Don’t have a job because you don’t know how to work? Easy, blame it on the foreigners—they “stole” your job.
The fact that our leaders refuse to acknowledge that the claws of xenophobia have gripped our citizens only spurs this hatred on.
According to Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, nobody in South Africa is attacked purely because they come from another country, which is a completely untrue statement built upon political cowardice. In 2008, after a particularly ugly wave of attacks on people thought not to be from South Africa, former President Thabo Mbeki insisted that his people are not prone to the affliction of xenophobia. Recently, even President Jacob Zuma stated that South Africans are not xenophobic. Perhaps they fear that acknowledging the real issues of our country amounts to political suicide.
In 2015, during a terrible episode of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, King Goodwill Zwelithini, monarch of the Zulu nation, requested that foreigners return to their own countries—the scary truth of this is that he voiced what most South Africans were thinking.
Not all leaders are ignoring the issue, but these leaders are not addressing the issue in a reformative way either. Instead of rectifying the problem, certain politicians are using this national hatred of foreigners to boost their own careers. One such example is the Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba. In December, Mashaba blamed the increased crime rate on the African National Congress’s (ANC) inability to prevent “foreign criminals” from entering the country. When a person in such a position of power possesses such a mindset, it is terrifying.
Because of such incidences, South Africans are claiming that foreign nationals are the orchestrators of drug rings and prostitution dens, and such claims only add to the present anger.
Lack of action on behalf of the government will allow this hatred and discord to fester until it becomes a national emergency. Already, other nations are reacting to the events that have unfolded in South Africa.
South Africa is a beautiful nation, and we have struggled through too much to simply sink into an abyss of hatred and discrimination once again. We can try to blame just about anything for these attacks, but, at some point, we have to admit that we are wrong. We cannot refuse to acknowledge what is happening. We cannot justify violence, and we certainly cannot stand by while people are afraid for their lives. We are the Rainbow Nation, and discrimination should be a thing of the past.
