Mmamoloko Kubayi
He showed them his papers confirming he had been granted refugee status and was here legally. This didn’t mean much to the inquisitors. When they had finished with him, he was lying in a pool of blood, gasping for breath. His life was only saved after an hours-long operation at the nearby Tygerberg Hospital. No- one has been arrested for the attempted murder.
Meanwhile, videos of marauding vigilantes going from door-to-door in the townships to sniff out foreign blacks have gone viral. AI has not helped the situation as it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between reality and fake AI-generated content.
The leaders of these angry, rag-tag vigilante impis trek across South Africa in luxury SUV vehicles imploring their knobkierie and whip-carrying followers to rid the country of non-South African blacks, who they accuse of committing most of the serious crimes like murder and drug-dealing. Worst of all, they accuse them of taking their jobs.
Officially, the vigilantes say they want to rid South Africa of illegal immigrants, of which there are many. The reality on the streets is if one has a foreign accent, it’s a criminal offence. The distinction between legal and illegal immigration becomes an inconvenient detail and mob justice is usually meted out on the hapless foreigner.
Understandably, several African governments have been vocal in condemning what they see as Afrophobia while some of their citizens demand that they retaliate.
This week, the South African minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, sat down with a group of Johannesburg-based foreign correspondents to explain her government’s position.
She made it very clear that the South African government was not “chasing anyone from this country.”
“Those with papers have nothing to worry about,” she said.
She accepted that her government could have done more to control illegal immigration.
“The management of our borders was not done properly. This has led to slow economic growth,” she said.
Many farms and restaurants in the country employ foreigners whom they exploit “because they are vulnerable,” she declared.
Kubayi felt it was desirable for South Africans to have a national dialogue on the question of foreign migration.
“We need to educate our people that we do need people from other countries but we have to enforce the law. We are trying to create an environment for legal migration,” she said, adding that South Africa was not the only country grappling with illegal migration and pointing to Europe and the US as examples.
When pressed about the vigilantes who seem to have a free rein, Kubayi pointed out that three of their leaders had been arrested for incitement to violence against foreigners.
“There is prospect of success in these cases,” she said.
The Minister was at pains to explain that there was “ no humanitarian crisis” in the country despite thousands of frightened foreign blacks camping outside their countries’ embassies in appalling conditions.
She pointed out the newly-built tent city just outside Musina as an example of her government’s commitment to safe housing for the displaced people while officials process their papers for repatriation.
“We have a 24-hour clinic. UNICEF is there taking care of the welfare of the children. A number of NGOs are also there helping with feeding,” she said.
The number of people arriving at the Zimbabwe border for repatriation was declining by day.
“Two days ago we had 1147. Last night we had 707,” said Kubayi.
Asked about compensation for those who had lost their property in the violence, the minister was adamant; no one would be compensated.
“There will be no compensation at all. People and companies who lost their properties in 2021 in the Durban riots were not compensated. The law does not allow it,” she said.
The Director-General of Home Affairs, Livhuwani Makhode, who accompanied the minister, emphasised that only law enforcement agents were allowed to check people’s documents.
He announced that the Border Management agency had processed 67 000 repatriates through all South Africa’s borders. The Zimbabwe government has said about 100 000 of its citizens had returned home.
Asked about the discrepancy, Makhode said most of the Zimbabweans were voluntary returnees and had been processed in the normal way.
Of the thousands assisted by Home Affairs, he said 53 000 had no passports.
“We worked with their embassies to get them travel documents before they could leave the country,” he said.
With Zimbabwe’s economy in the doldrums, it’s just a matter of time before the repatriated individuals make their way back through the porous border and with the help of corrupt border officials.”
When I got home from the minister’s briefing, an acquaintance sent me a note which read: “South Africa’s crisis is not simply xenophobia – it is the collapse of accountability. The country carries a heavy burden of unemployed and desperate young men who have found in migrants a convenient target. When there is no work, no justice, and no consequence, criminality fills the vacuum, and foreigners pay the price for an economy and a state that has failed its own people.”
Post published in: Africa News