Swapna Prabhakaran and Bongani Siqoko
Hawkers in Johannesburg have added Pakistanis, Indians and Chinese people to their list of foreigners whose businesses should be boycotted and who should be expelled from South Africa.
More than 500 local hawkers gathered at the Library Gardens for yet another rally calling for a boycott of goods sold by amakwerekwere (a derogatory term for non- South Africans).
A pamphlet distributed on the streets of Johannesburg says: “Do not buy from a foreigner as they take our money to their country. Foreigners must go.” The pamphlet was drawn up by Moffat Sibulelo, co- ordinator of the Greater Johannesburg Hawkers Association. He said people born in South Africa have a right to trade on the pavements but there is no room for foreigners.
His list of people who should be shunned includes Pakistanis, Chinese, Indians, Senegalese, Somalians, Nigerians, Moroccans, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.
Mac Mia – a South African Indian shop-owner – said: “The [foreign] Indians and the Pakistanis are the worst. They are taking the money out of the country.”
The call to rid South Africa of Indians and Pakistanis raises memories of the campaigns in Uganda and Malawi. Former Ugandan despot Idi Amin expelled all Indians from the country and confiscated all their property. Malawi restricted Indian trade to its three major cities.
At the rally, hawkers representing Lenasia and Soweto pledged their loyalty to the association’s cause on loudspeakers, to an audience of customers, shopkeepers and hawkers.
The streets were empty of vendors while the rally took place – locals attended the meeting, and foreigners stayed out the way. “You won’t find any makwerekwere today,” one hawker said. “They are afraid.”
The association is not unified in this stance. Some members say they want all foreigners out of the county, while others say they can stay on condition they do not sell on the streets. But they are all agreed on the fact that amakwerekwere take business away from the locals and that they will not tolerate this any longer.
A strong element of xenophobia was apparent at the meeting. Angry speakers claimed the makwerekwere are dirty; that they sell food outside toilets and that they litter.
“They sell fruits on dirty plates, and throw papers anywhere on the floor,” said Rose Baloyi, a fruit and vegetable hawker on Rissik Street.
She said she resents the fact that South Africans are suffering from unemployment. “There’s no jobs; there’s no nothing. These foreigners are still coming, putting pressure on us,” she said.
The association took a tough stance, calling on locals to identify foreigners by their accents, and to boycott their goods.
When the association demanded that the department of Foreign Affairs refuse foreigners the right to vend on the streets, the department responded that South Africa is a signatory to the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) and United Nations (UN) conventions and “has humanitarian obligations to assist those in genuine need of protection”.
The department said foreigners should be allowed to sustain themselves [by hawking if necessary] as the government is not able to provide refugees with financial assistance.
Sibulelo said: “We don’t know anything about OAU, or UN. We only know we want Johannesburg clean.” The association has plans to publicise the issue, and to make it a national boycott by next year.