/ 26 October 2001

Legal or not: People must be protected

The violence at Zandspruit is a reflection of more than the country’s racial xenophobic tendencies with South Africans objecting to black, but not white, immigrants

Evidence wa ka Ngobeni

The violence that erupted at the Zandspruit informal settlement near Honeydew this week not only unearthed the xenophobic tendencies that continue to haunt South Africa but also exposed the confused state of immigration control.

Three weeks ago, before the violence, immigration officials escorted by local police stormed the informal settlement and deported hundreds of illegal immigrants but they all came back, said a representative for the Department of Home Affairs, Leslie Mashokwe.

Mashokwe this week said that his department was informed of tensions between Zandspruit locals and illegal immigrants in the area weeks before the turmoil that started on Sunday.

Four to five weeks ago, Mashokwe said, angry Zandspruit locals submitted a complaint to local police about an influx of illegal immigrants in their area. The Zandspruit locals asked the police to take decisive steps against the foreigners, whom they accuse of stealing their jobs and killing local residents.

A Zimbabwean national allegedly killed a local woman in September. It is not clear whether the culprit has been arrested.

On Wednesday Zandspruit residents initially walked out of a crisis meeting intended to ease tensions in the area, but later agreed to form three committees to deal with trauma, rehousing and complaints.

The committees will consist of local government officials, councillors, religious leaders, community representatives and human rights activists. The police are expected also to play a major role in the committees’ response to local people’s complaints.

In response to the Zandspruit residents’ initial complaint three weeks ago, Mashokwe said: “Officials from the departments of home affairs and labour launched a joint operation called Operation Clean Up with the local police and moved into the area to root out the illegal immigrants.”

The operation, he said, netted between 600 and 700 illegal immigrants who were swiftly deported to various neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

But a few days later residents noticed that the illegal immigrants had returned. Like hundreds and thousands who make their way to South Africa each year, the Zandspruit foreigners in question also exploited the country’s poor border controls and made their way back to Zandspruit.

A week later they watched with shock as the shacks they had come back to were reduced to ashes.

Police authorities dictated what their new “home” would be shelters in and around central Johannesburg. The men were separated from their families women and children were placed at the Mabunda shelter in central Johannesburg and men at the OJC shelter in Roodepoort.

With heavily armed police patrolling outside, the shelters were a lot safer than the shacks in Zandspruit for the stunned men and women the illegals among them still facing deportation or, even worse, jail.

Mashokwe says that when some Zandspruit residents noticed a few days ago that the illegal immigrants were back, they rushed down the dusty streets to the local police station to report the matter.

On their way back it appears they decided to handle it on their own. They hurriedly called an urgent community meeting. It was in that meeting that an ultimatum was issued: foreigners must leave within 10 days or face the music.

The music that followed was loud and clear last Sunday after the warning was ignored. An informal settlement that a few weeks ago was just one of South Africa’s depressing stories turned into a major attraction as the international media rallied to cover the story.

Leading South African politicians, who before the incident may not have known of the area’s existence or its place on the country’s map, flocked to the informal settlement.

Human rights organisations were quick to caution the public against alleged opportunists. Very few of the politicians who visited the area a day after the incident condemned the violence the remains of the more than 74 immigrants’ shacks were still visible.

Other Zandspruit residents were still counting ill-gotten belongings more than 120 shacks were looted. A handful of Zandspruit residents who were hit by the police’s rubber bullets were still nursing their wounds.

Twenty Zandspruit residents appeared in court, facing a string of charges related to public violence.

Mashokwe said his department condemned the attacks. On Thursday the Cabinet also strongly condemned the violence. Other organisations, including the South African Communist Party, have done so too.

But, like other organisations, the SACP warned against leading public figures who have failed to condemn the violence and instead have uttered “inflammatory xenophobic statements”.

Mashokwe said his department understands the Zandspruit residents’ concerns but does not approve of violence. This view was echoed by the SACP and some organisations, including Rights Africa and the Human Rights Commission, which said the violence was a reflection of South Africa’s racial xenophobic tendencies, referring to the tendency of South Africans to object to black but not white immigrants.

The home affairs department’s position, Mashokwe said “is that the law has to take its course. This is a democratic country and whether people are here legally or illegally we have to protect them. People cannot be allowed to take the law into their own hands.”

Mashokwe said his department has decided that it will mediate only once tensions have been defused.

“We believe that we cannot act in a state of confusion.”