Xenophobic attacks across Durban’s Central Business District (CBD) have reached a climax. On Thursday last week Authorities commenced with moving scores of foreign nationals who had sought protection from anti-migrant (xenophobic) groups at a church centre in Durban in a days-long standoff, highlighting anti-foreign tensions in South Africa. Campaigns by small citizen-led groups against undocumented migrants have accelerated in recent months. However, the most recent mass demonstrations have not reached the level of violence seen in waves of anti-foreigner attacks over previous years.
Police herded about 400 migrants from countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Somalia onto buses and removed them from the complex in the east coast city where some had been camped for days. Local anti-immigrant campaigners cheered and chanted “They must go!” as the foreign nationals — including women and children — were driven to a government refugee centre. Some pressed identity documents to bus windows to show they had the proper papers to be in South Africa. Several told AFP they had left their homes in fear after anti-immigrant locals went door-to-door to tell undocumented foreigners to leave by June 30. Their ultimatum has no legal weight and is not backed by the authorities.
There were some scuffles during the evacuation, with one man breaking free and chased by locals before police intervened.
Xenophobia and the blaming of foreigners for South Africa’s economic woes is not an acceptable path for this country to follow. The truth is a lot of blame should be move to the door of poor leadership. The whole country from Pretoria, to the provinces, to the municipalities need to review their political practices. There has to be a change in the dynamics of power across the social spectrum. eThekwini region is a key municipality in all this as is its place to be a commercial port. South Africa is an integral part of the African continent and it needs to strike a balance between cleaning up its own act in terms of corruption and persuading its own neighbouring nations such as Zimbabwe to do the same.
Violence can only beget more violence and carnage. Vigilantism cannot be allowed to flourish as it is an unquenchable fire that cannot be tamed.
It follows recent tensions in the city sparked by protests against undocumented migrants. The Congolese Solidarity Campaign says migrants in Durban fear for their lives. They have been camping at the premises of the Diakonia Centre in the Durban CBD. On Wednesday, senior officials from KZN police and home affairs met with representatives of the foreign nationals after they also tried camping outside the Durban Central Police Station. The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa in Durban says the situation is concerning. Board chairperson Yasmin Rajah says there needs to be a greater understanding of how and why migrants end up in South Africa.
As Rajah herself pointed out education on the plight of refugees and migrants is the key to alleviating some of the misunderstanding and resentment South Africans harbour to such peoples. At the heart of this needs to be a fundamental change in how South African society views its position in the immediate vicinity of southern Africa. South Africa cannot allow itself to slide back into violence when it wants to prove it can be a leader amongst African nations. The nation as whole must be urged to rethink its position on the economy. National, provincial and local must cooperate together with the private sector to improve the nation’s economics. Only by confronting poverty and ignorance can South Africa change course.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
