May 30 to June 5 2008

A life without foreigners?

I woke and switched on the radio for the early morning news. I heard our foreign neighbours have gone back to their African countries. Good news, I said, now there will be peace. I went to the bathroom for a shower to find there was no hot water. I needed a plumber and an electrician. Reaching out for my cellphone all the names I came across were Mozambican. I settled for a cold shower.

I went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, to be greeted by the stench of rotten cheese and spoilt milk. I went out to grab some supplies from around the corner; I was greeted by broken windows and bolted doors. All the Somalis, the Afghans and the Pakistanis were nowhere to be found. All have closed shop and gone.

Back home I turned on the ignition of my 12-year-old car and after several outbursts the car jacked forward and rammed into the wall. A quick assessment of the damage brings me to R5 000. If Fernando was still around I could get it done for R2 000.

I took a taxi to town for some groceries, knowing that on my way back I would buy some fruit and vegetables (R3 a plate) at the taxi rank, but there were none. The Zimbabweans and the Somalis are gone —

This may be a dream but tomorrow it will be reality. — Velaphi Makama, Vosloorus

As a boy, growing up in Lusaka, I heard the singing of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika among freedom fighters in our Kaunda Square neighbourhood. We lived with them as our own. My memories are vivid of the neighbourhood being bombed in assaults on ANC guerrillas. No one was blamed as a foreigner, for we stood united in brotherhood and sisterhood for the betterment of South Africans. — John-Eudes Lengwe Kunda, London

By far the most incisive comment on recent events that I have read was Nicole Johnston’s ‘No consequences: our culture of impunity” (May 23). She cuts to the bone of what is wrong in our country: people behave badly and illegally because they are allowed to do so and have been allowed to for a long, long time. — Louis van Schaik, Newlands

I love this country because of the wide-open spaces in it. Behind the African renaissance, anyone without proper papers finds the parallel, densely populated reality of limited access to opportunities and guaranteed rights, the endless wait for their delivery, the failure of South Africa’s regional policy, the corruption, the painful poverty, the dirt, decay and dysfunction.

I love the space behind this country’s executive lounge — in which the disenfranchised are demonstrating an ability to get what they need. I’m afraid of some of it — and the xenophobic violence blends into daily rape, murder, theft, mini-skirt-bashing, driving people out of their homes with nothing so convenient as ‘foreignness” to explain it. And I’m in awe of the roadside mechanics, hawkers, car guards, barbers, mobile markets, the loaves-and-fishes miracles worked with child grants or pensions.

Much is damaged and destroyed, but much is painfully preserved by these schemes for survival; they clash and contradict one another and are nothing near sustainable solutions, but the plans from above may need to take them as a starting point instead of clearing them away. — Terna Gyuse

The ANC has always been outward-looking and internationalist, with many of its leaders having been forced into exile in the apartheid era, but ordinary South Africans suffered enforced separation as a result of the ‘homeland” system. As a result, South Africans were not used to mixing with foreigners and not prepared for the influx of refugees and immigrants after 1994. — Stefan Simanowitz, Brighton

I observed the behaviour of delegates and elected officials of the ANC at recent conferences, in Limpopo, the ANC Youth League and in the North West, in which spectacles included ‘mooning” at the press, brawls and urine-filled bottles being hurled at people with differing opinions. It strikes me that the violence we are witnessing towards African foreigners in Gauteng directly mirrors the lack of respect for civilised norms within ANC ‘structures”. — Duncan Robson, Cape Town

As the smoke of xenophobic violence hangs heavy in the air and the cries of the injured fade, we need, as a society, to take stock. Capitalism creates poverty and class divisions, manufactures resentment and locks people into emotional prisons they cannot escape. This unjust system impoverishes the majority and enriches a minority, turns us into hungry, angry people ready to explode. Poverty is violence and those who create poverty are themselves purveyors of violence. — Rassool Snyman, Durban

Much has been said in the media about the attacks described as ‘xenophobia”. But in almost all mainstream media the emphasis is on ‘expert” opinion, mainly petty-bourgeois commentators. Few have bothered getting the opinion of the people at the centre of the dispute. — Percy Ngonyama, New Germany

The ongoing attacks on foreigners not only put South Africa in a bad light but have a destabilising effect on our strategic role to unite Africa and achieve economic and political integration. Let us not throw our African values out of the window. — Morgan Phaahla, Ekurhuleni

To the extent that the recent attacks have to do with the management of illegal migration, the continued instability in the department of home affairs should be blamed. When the matter of Zimbabwean migrants was raised, the response of the ministry of home affairs was that there was no ‘tsunami of Zimbabweans” entering South Africa and it provided no coherent strategy for dealing with foreign nationals and their integration or deportation. — Monde Nhleko, Pretoria

In Plein Street in downtown Johannesburg I was appalled to hear two black young women, who spoke in isiZulu, the language you are supposed to speak to prove your authenticity as a South African, ­discussing the conflict in these terms: ‘Sizo wa shaya amashangana, abasazi kahle,” said one. ‘Nga jabula kabe u ma siba gijimisa. Zi si jwayela kabe lezi zinja. [We will beat up all the Shangaans, they do not know us well. I was so excited when we chased them.]”

When I reached Wanderers street, I again overhead silly xenophobic remarks, this time by some guys: ‘A zo nyela amaVhenda, afunani laph’ eGoli? [The Vendas gonna shit on themselves, what do they want here in Johannesburg anyway?]”

It is an indictment on us, showing what we lack in self-esteem, confidence and pride. I am a proud black African. But in the recent spate of xenophobic attacks, I secretly wished I was something else. — Comfort Mathebula

In last week’s edition (May 23) you cite the number of foreigners in South Africa at about 10-million. But most reasoned estimates put the number at far lower. The 2001 census found less than one million foreign-born residents in South Africa. Although the numbers have certainly increased, reason should tell us that foreigners do not make up one in five people in the country. Citing such figures inflames tension. Note that no one — in government or out — has accurate figures on the number of foreigners in the country. — Loren B Landau, director, forced migration studies, University of the Witwatersrand

I might not be a South African

But I’m black; my skin is the same as yours
My colour is the same as yours
My genes are African, nothing but African
When your leaders were beaten by whites
I was there to shelter them
I was patient with them
I offered them food, shelter,
Most of all, I offered them protection
I might be a South African

I can’t speak Zulu, cause I’m Venda
I can’t speak Zulu, cause I’m Shangaan
I don’t know what an elbow is in Zulu
As much as you don’t know it in my language
Since when was Zulu the only South African language?
Yes, I’m not from Gauteng
I was not born here, but I’m South African
Where should I go if you beat me?
I’m not beating your father, mother, brother or sister who works at my area in the mines
I’m not calling them makwerekwere though they can’t speak my language

I might be dark in complexion
I might have the foreigner’s looks
I might have the foreigner’s body structure
Now I am scared to go to the only place that I call home
I’m scared of walking down the street without my ID
Whites wanted me to do that centuries ago
Now you, my black brother, you’re acting white

Why should you Black South Africans do this?
What makes you think that you better than me?
Who told you that I’m responsible for your unemployment?
Who told you that I’m less human?
If I need to go back to Venda … let all the Zulus go back to KZN
Let all the Tswanas go back to Botswana
Let all the Sothos go back to Lesotho
Let all the Ndebeles go back to KwaNdebele
Let all the Xhosas go back to Eastern Cape
Yes, let all the Swatis go back to Swaziland

Is this not ignorance?

Your unemployment is your responsibility
Use your intellect
Get up and work
Let education empower you
Seek humanity

Before 1994 you blamed whites
Now you are blaming me
Who are you going to blame after chasing me away?
Who are you going to blame after killing me?

For what it’s worth …

I’m sorry I was not born here
I’m sorry I can’t speak Zulu
I’m sorry for being too dark for your Jo’burg
I’m sorry for cleaning the toilets you don’t want to clean
I’m sorry for doing your garden
I’m sorry for repairing your shoes
I’m sorry for protecting your leaders while they were in exile
Yes, what you call exile … is my country
And most of all … I’m sorry for building South African infrastructure

— Ben Eyabu

Kasrils abuses his position
Among the endorsements claimed by the sponsors of the advertisement that appeared in the Mail & Guardian on May 16 (‘We fought apartheid; we see no reason to celebrate it in Israel now”), there are a few that surprise me. One I challenge is Ronnie Kasrils’s deliberate misuse of state authority. His endorsement carries the title of minister of intelligence. Did the unlikeable Kasrils obtain the permission of the government to associate it with the advert? If so, strange indeed, considering that Minister of Public Works Thoko Didiza attended a function to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary on May 8 at the embassy in Pretoria and delivered a congratulatory speech.

Kasrils has a deplorable habit of using his ministerial position and the department’s website to associate South African government policy with his own views and to fight his private battles. He never mentions the fact that only three of the 22 Arab states have recognised the existence of the state of Israel and that the president of Iran has repeatedly said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth.

The thousands of rockets that have been fired from Gaza into Israel are not mentioned in any of his diatribes against Israel. His comparison of Israel with apartheid ignores the fact that every adult citizen in Israel (Arab or Jew) can vote. Arab or Jew can use the facilities at the same state hospitals and their children can attend the same state schools, unlike in apartheid South Africa.

The ANC delegates to the Polokwane congress made the right decision when they dispensed with Kasrils’s services as a member of the NEC. — Helen Suzman, Illovo

More than a passport
The M&G‘s May 23 edition was almost disturbing in its honesty. In sharp contrast is Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya’s simplistic view of the Afrikaner. Freedom has multiple facets, but right now the one to strive for is the freedom to make maximum positive contribution to the development of South Africa. This applies to all groupings, white, black, Christian, Muslim, whatever.

This freedom to make a difference is being impeded by an explicit lack of career opportunities in key disciplines for whites (including Afrikaners), ill-managed land reform not recognising the value of mentorship, inadequate focus on leadership skills in education in the interests of cronyism and much, much more. It is time to recognise that the probability of success for South Africa is greatly enhanced if the Afrikaner is encouraged to really contribute and participate. — Leon Venter, Durbanville

A racist
Ferial Haffajee’s interview with Andile Mngxitama is revealing. It shows him to be a racist who hates white people. Why give him space at all? I truly believe that if any other person who was being interviewed by Haffajee had said, ‘to be forced into a black friendship is as repugnant as being instructed to eat black piss and shit”, they would be run out of town. In fact, it is doubtful that the M&G would bother to publish such tripe. Why, then, is it ‘OK” for Mngxitama to say this about white people? It’s the kind of thing Hitler would have said about Jews. There seems to be an illogical inclination to believe it’s acceptable for white ­people to be at the receiving end of racist attacks because of their history as agents of racism. — Marilyn Keegan, Cape Town

In brief
So the ‘big fish” in Travelgate will get away with it? Why? Because they have powerful friends. This is corruption. But this is nothing compared with the real corruption — the erosion of ethical standards and the values of our society. — Richard R Hawkins, Pietermaritzburg

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai is a coward: he fears going home claiming that there is a plot to assassinate him. Proof? There is none. Yet he has the audacity to tell the Zimbabweans who live in South Africa to go back home and reclaim their country. In a few weeks time there will be a run-off between him and Mugabe. When is Tsvangirai going to start campaigning? — Thabile Mange

With South Africa experiencing one of its worst crises since 1994, the president has again opted for ‘quiet diplomacy”. In fact, he is missing in action. There is growing public support for the removal of Thabo Mbeki as head of state with immediate effect. — Rozario Brown, Mitchells Plain

During Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy Zimbabweans have been brutalised in Zimbabwe. In our desperate effort to save our lives we have crossed the borders. South Africa offers no official solace to us and instead is helping perpetuate the problems in Zimbabwe that led to refugees now being burned on the streets of South Africa like stray dogs. — ‘Cry Zimbabwe”