Protest politics and attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa

It has been established through research that the 2008 xenophobic attacks that took place in South Africa were planned and orchestrated by certain local leaders who sought to consolidate and accrue political and economic power in the various townships and informal areas where the attacks against foreigners were carried out.

Through a close review of studies and news reports on violence against foreign nationals in South Africa since 2008, it can also be argued that, through the increasing violent service delivery protests that have become part of South Africa’s landscape since 2004, violence continues to be perpetrated against foreign nationals. This situation cries out not only for effective strengthening of security measures and law enforcement against those who target foreign nationals during violence, but political accountability and commitment to addressing the root causes of protests as well as lack of decent housing, sanitation, jobs, corruption and political representation.

INTRODUCTION

Violence remains an endemic feature of life in South Africa, with certain sectors of the population being more at risk of falling victim. Chief among these groups are foreign nationals whose presence has increased exponentially in numbers after the transition to democracy in South Africa. There are a number of ways in which foreign nationals in the post apartheid period have been victims of violence, with the 2008 xenophobic attacks being the best recorded. But there are other continuing means in which foreign nationals become primary targets of violence in many parts of South Africa.

This paper discusses the widespread phenomenon of violent service delivery protests and how foreigners, particularly those who own shops, fall victim to the violence.

Violence against foreign nationals continues in South Africa and takes different forms. This situation undermines the values of the Constitution of the country based on human dignity and equality of all, including foreign nationals present in the country. The security of foreign nationals is ultimately linked with how the state ensures that community leaders and government authorities act promptly on community concerns and grievances and the promises politicians make to the residents of informal settlements and townships of the country. Prompt action would pre-empt genuine community grievances being hijacked by gangsters and mobs bent on taking advantage of weak groups while using genuine community challenges and other problems as a disguise.

SERVICE DELIVERY PROTESTS AND ATTACKS ON FOREIGN NATIONALS

It is widely reported in the media and acknowledged by government itself that many service delivery protests in South Africa began in 2004 or thereabout. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs[1] (COGTA) State of Local Government Report, citing major service delivery protests by year, shows the prevalence by percentage of service delivery protests between January and July 2009 as follows: Northern Cape 12 per cent; Western Cape two per cent; North-West 17 per cent; Limpopo three per cent; Mpumalanga eight per cent; KwaZulu-Natal eight per cent; Free State 15 per cent; Gauteng 30 per cent; and, Eastern Cape five per cent.

The report acknowledges that municipalities in South Africa, rural areas in particular, are in a state of distress[2]. The latter situation of distress of municipalities and the frustrations it invites is partly confirmed by the fact that, as noted by Heese and Allan[3], service delivery protests are well supported in the communities where they take place, ‘with crowds of protestors being at least several hundred strong’, with unemployed youths[4] at the forefront of many of these protests.

One thing not agreed on is the actual trigger or root cause of the protests. Other commentators insist that at the heart of the failure to pin point the core causes of service delivery protests in South Africa today is that, as a phenomenon, they are generally poorly understood[5]. However, a stronger discourse that is carrying much of the debates at the moment is the one centered on the structural factors of South African society after1994, which encompasses issues such as intra-group inequalities, high unemployment, grinding poverty, the legacy of apartheid and general neglect of poor working class communities[6].

Heese and Allan have characterised this phenomenon as relative deprivation, especially since it is manifested through violent protests that take place in informal settlements around South Africa’s major metros[7]. Heese and Allan view relative deprivation (feelings of being sidelined and excluded based on comparison to other communities) as critical in explaining these protests due to the fact that most occur in informal settlements with high unemployment, squalid living conditions and poor local government connections or neglect thereof. [8].

Yunus Carrim’s[9] statement on the issue is instructive of the importance attached to structural exclusion in explaining the major sources of service delivery protests in South Africa today: ‘Many of the protestors are alienated from the state as a whole, not just local government, and not just the whole state, but from society too. Moreover, the protests are also about many issues that do not fall within the competency of local government or are not its core responsibilities. They are also about housing, jobs, health, crime and other issues. The protests are about the failures of service delivery of all three spheres of government, even if municipalities are being targeted.’

At the general level, migration and the rise in urban populations is recognised as one of the important contextual factors influencing contemporary issues such as violent service delivery protests in urban development discourses in South Africa and worldwide[10] and the attendant resource competition accompanied by violence.[11] Some broad triggers of service delivery protests revolve around meanings of South African citizenship. [12] Other factors that have been found to be leading causes of violence during service delivery protests also include a total breakdown in communication channels between local leaders and community members, with suspicions of corruption and undelivered promises being the most dominant factors.[13]

The South African Human Rights Report arising out of the 2008 violence[14] notes that: ‘The effective privatization of governance… leave residents of these areas convinced that they are on their own in dealing with social problems.’ The latter statement is corroborated by the comment of one of the leaders of a strong and well organised social movement called Abahlali Basemjondolo (literally meaning, Shack Dwellers), Sbu Zikode, who also emphasises the importance of land and decent housing as core concerns of people living in informal settlements in South Africa. He argues as follows: ‘But land and housing are the most urgent problems in our cities and there is serious difficulty in resolving issues. This discussion can only begin once those who do not count begin to count. We decided long ago not to accept a situation in which some people talk about the poor and even for the poor without ever speaking to the poor.’

FOREIGN NATIONALS AND SOCIAL VIOLENCE IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

Ways in which foreign migrants in general are affected by violence (structural or physical) is complex owing to the complex and dynamic nature of violence itself, particularly in urban areas where city organisation or the ‘overarching political economy of cities’ may promote monopolistic domination and exclusion or deprivation.[15]. Generally however, in South Africa, David Abraham[16] notes, ‘poverty and poor service delivery are two further causal factors for xenophobic attacks.’ South Africa experiences what can be called structural xenophobia in terms of violence against foreigners, with poverty and unemployment as key factors behind many incidences of social violence against foreign nationals.[17]

Recently, there has come to light new, bewildering complexes of the violence against migrants in South Africa, where in the Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth), some groups Somali foreign nationals who own businesses pay off local thugs to terrorise and threaten other newcomers who seek to set up small trading stalls or spaza shops.[18]

The latest big displacement of foreign nationals that took place in De Doorns, a farming area in the Western Cape where about 3,000 Zimbabweans were chased out of the area, is said to have been instigated by South African based labour brokers unhappy with Zimbabwean labour brokers operating in the same community.[19] The vile aspect of the social violence that affects foreigners in South Africa today is that which occurs during or after service delivery protests, since many of the disturbances caused by the community upheavals open up dangerous spaces for criminals to rob, loot and sometimes physically attack foreign nationals without any fear of community reprisal or of being charged of a crime.[20]

The violence of some of the service delivery protests fuels other types of violence against foreigners in South Africa specifically and throughout other parts of the world more broadly. As though drawing directly from the 2008 South African xenophobic violence example, one of the authors in a recent Red Cross journal publication notes that, ‘when immigrants are attacked, the general chaos engendered by the disturbances and their attempts to flee to safety can provide criminal groups with an opportunity to pillage, rape and even kill[21].’ In Mpumalanga, the violence that erupted during a service delivery protest in Balfour saw attacks and looting of foreign owned shops (largely those owned by Pakistani small traders); the burning down of a library and the municipal office[22].

Another community protest turned violent took place in Drieziek, Extension 3, Orange Farm, where residents who had been protesting about lack of sanitation in the community clashed with the police. A few businesses in the area were attacked, one of which belonged to a Mozambican female by the name of Grace Mhlongo, who lost all her stock and money during the mob raid on her business.[23]

There has been a substantial and meaningful amount of studies conducted in order to understand and explain the key causes of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa since the 2008 xenophobic violence. One of these studies is that of Jean Pierre Misago, Tamlyn Monson, and Loren Landau[24]. The findings of their research report revealed that the 2008 attacks were planned and orchestrated by local leaders in various communities in the country who wanted to claim and expand their political authority and make certain economic gains.[25]

The study done above, and others, have gone into detailed profiling of various communities in the country where the attacks against foreigners were widely reported. Through their investigations, they have revealed the paucity[26] of local social governance systems in communities affected by the violence against foreigners. They have also shown how the attacks on foreigners form part of the story of locally based struggles for power across the various locations and informal settlements, of course with the slow pace in social service delivery and politically based factionalisms[27] being at the background of many community protests, a view now also widely accepted and debated in the African National Congress[28].

Misago, in another article, reasoned that the link between service delivery grievances and ultimate protests and attacks on foreign nationals is difficult to establish, but that ‘poor service delivery may have played a role in heightening tensions and delegitimising political leadership in many of the affected communities’.[29]

Misago was reflecting on the trends just before and just after the 2008 xenophobic attacks, and in this regard, he was not yet aware of the exponential increase of service delivery protests in 2009, which according to the Municipal Hotspot Monitor, have been the highest recorded in the country since 2004. My own study of Alexandra[30] last year confirmed the latter view.

PROTECTING THE DIGNITY AND SECURITY OF ALL PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Violence and abuse of foreign nationals in post apartheid South Africa, as noted above and throughout this article, goes against the very ethos of South African society as expressed through the Constitution that expressly obliges all state institutions and people of and within South Africa to act in ways that promote equality and dignity of all people regardless of race, ethnicity and other human grounds.

The rise in xenophobia in South Africa, and its violent aspects, must and should be an issue of immediate concern for the government. This is particularly because of the increase in urban populations in the country since 1994, and the highly unsatisfactorily living conditions and endemic conditions of social violence and lawlessness prevailing in many informal settlements and townships from which many poor foreign nationals and South Africans alike reside and eke out a living.

The overcrowding, unemployment and the acute sense of deprivation and lack of strong law enforcement systems experienced in poor areas all add up to the vulnerability of foreign nationals to violence during service delivery protests. As I show in this article, this has been the case after 2008 and before[31] and continues until today, as some major studies in this area have indeed argued[32].

Thus, in essence, it appears that the failure by municipalities to meet their Constitutional obligations to provide basic services in poor communities in South Africa is a panacea for the social violence directed at local government representative structures[33], but which eventually ends up also affecting foreign nationals in the communities affected by service delivery protests.

It appears, therefore, that the question of deprivation as the main driver of community protests and the violent reprisals that result needs urgent attention, as it puts at risk the lives and security of marginal groups such as foreign migrants who live in such areas and therefore requires concerted urgent efforts from government and the communities involved.

This is made even more urgent given the fact that the projection of future occurrences of service delivery protests indicates a continuation of these protests in the country. This in turn raises questions about political accountability, employment, poverty and the efficacy of systems of security and rule of law that are aimed at promoting democracy and development at the lower levels of South African society.

The municipal IQ Hotspot Monitor and other researchers have for quite some time been pointing out that the resource competition, below average political institutions and other material challenges found in informal settlements and townships in South Africa are fueling the community protests, which in their various evolving dynamics negatively affect foreign nationals. Indeed, Cormsa[34], in addressing the community uprisings of Siyathemba in Balfour that turned into xenophobic violence last year, emphasised the importance of interventions that proactively engage with ‘community concerns as a means of addressing the source of conflict as well as ensuring the safety and security of all living in the area.’

CONCLUSION

Since the May 2008 xenophobic violence, South Africa has became a household name for being a violent society, not only for violence of South Africans against other South Africans, but also for being extra violent against foreign nationals.
Ever since then, however, despite the attempts to stem the tide of violence directed at foreign nationals, they continue to bear the brunt of violence and abuse in South Africa’s poor urban and peri-urban neighbourhoods.

This paper set out to explain and clarify another means through which foreign nationals continue to experience suffering and insecurity in post apartheid South Africa by highlighting the connections between the increase in violent community protests in South Africa since 2004 and the sporadic attacks on foreigners during such community protests in various informal settlements and townships of the country.

South Africa has seen a sharp increase in community protests since the 2008 violence against foreign nationals, and these community protests (violent or not) all have the same connecting thread - grievance against a lack of or slow delivery of social services such as houses, sanitation, jobs and land to name just a few.

The community protests are very important in understanding local governance issues affecting the communities where they occur. The evidence shows that they are well supported, especially by unemployed township youths. The major targets for protesting communities has been local government officials and indeed many ward councilors have come under physical attack in various instances. But by and large, foreign nationals have been even more routinely targeted. The latter situation calls for urgent action from government, not only in beefing up security for vulnerable groups like foreign nationals, but by proactively engaging communities or residents in decisions and concerns regarding the distribution and supply of houses, sanitation, land and all of the issues that are a source of the violent service delivery protests.

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* Lucky Makhosini Kunene is a peace and security research intern with the African Institute of South Africa in Pretoria.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES:

[1] State of Local Government in South Africa: Overview Report: National State of Local Government Assessments. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA): South Africa. 2009 p 12.
[2] Ibid, p 4-5.
[3] Karen Heese and Kevin Allan, ‘Satisfied residents, service delivery protests coexist.’ http://bit.ly/dEwpMg (Accessed, 21/10/2010).
[4] African National Congress National General Council Discussion Documents, 20-24 September 2010: Towards 100 Years of Selfless Struggle. An Umrabulo Special Edition. p 11.
[5] Kevin Allan and Karen Heese, ‘Understanding Why Service Delivery Protests take place and who is to Blame.’ http//www.municipaliq.co.za/articles (Accessed, 12/11/2010).
[6] South African Civil Society and Xenophobia: Synthesis Report. David Everatt, ‘Overview and Prospects.’ p 01. http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/Report, 2009 (Accessed, 12/11/2010); Cornell, Terreblanche and Mamdani, ‘Only Complete Reform of Economy Can Defuse Tensions,’ Cape Times, 28 May 2008; G. Ashton, ‘Xenophobia Redux,’ 2010. Pambazuka News, http//pambazuka.org/en/category (Accessed, 14/09/2010).
[7] Op Cit (footnote, 3).
[8] Kevin Allan and Karen Heese (footnote, 3 and 4).
[9] Yunus Carrim, ‘Towards a Better Understanding of the Service Delivery Protests,’ Speech at the National Council of Provinces: Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Budget Vote Debate, 23 April 2010. http://bit.ly/foMEGJ (Accessed, 14/09/2010).
[10] Haroon Bhorat and Ravi Kanbur (eds), Poverty and Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Introduction). The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Press, p 13. http://bit.ly/ex2ug4 (accessed 13/03/2010.
[12] Siphamandla Zondi, ‘Towards an Understanding of Violence Against Immigrants in South Africa,’ Africa Insight, Vol. 38 (2), September 2008; Michael Neocosmos, ‘From Foreign Natives to Native Foreigners: Explaining Xenophobia in Contemporary South Africa. Dakar: CODESRIA, 2006.
[13] Allan and Heese, (footnote, 4).
[14] The South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) Report on the Investigation into Issues of Rule of Law, Justice and Impunity arising out of the 2008 Public Violence Against Non-Nationals (Foreword), p 8.
[15] An Interview with Dennis Rogers, In Urban Violence: International Review of the Red Cross. Vol. 92, No. 878, June 2010. Cambridge University Press.
[16] David Abrahams, ‘A Synopsis of Urban Violence in South Africa’ In Urban Violence: International Review of the Red Cross. Vol. 92, No. 878, June 2010. Cambridge University Press.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Somalis go to War in Kugya near Port Elizabeth, SAPA. http://www.cormsa.org.za (accessed, 20/10/2010).
[23] Lebogang Seale and Kim Tshukulu, ‘Cops fire on Sharpville, Orange Farm Protesters,’ The Star, February, 2010.
[24] Pierre Misago, Loren Landau and Tamlyn Monson, ‘Towards Tolerance, Law and Dignity: Addressing Violence against Foreign Nationals in South Africa.’A Study by the International Organization for Migration (IMO)- Southern African Regional Office and the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, February, 2009; Jean Pierre Misago, Tamlyn Monson, Tara Polzer and Loren Landau, ‘May 2008 Violence Against Foreign Nationals in South Africa: Understanding Causes and Evaluating Responses.’ Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CorMSA) and Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP), Johannesburg, April 2010.
[25] Tara Polzer, ‘Xenophobia’: Violence against Foreign Nationals and other ‘Outsiders’ in Contemporary South Africa,’ Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, June, 2010, p 04.
[26] Ibid, p 04.
[27] Service Delivery Protests: Policy Brief 4. South African Local Government Association (SALGA). June, 2007. Http://www.citizenshiprightsinafrica.org (Accessed, 20/10/2009); David Abraham, 2010 (footnote, 17).
[33] Kunene, M.L., and Maseng, J.O., (2010) The Constitutionality of Service Delivery Protests and Violent Service Delivery in South Africa: Key Issues in Governance in Post Apartheid South Africa. A Paper Presented at the Mandela Institute’s Conference on Globalization and Governance, Chalsty Teaching and Conference Centre, School of Law, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 14-16 October, 2010.
[34] Cormsa Calls for Effective Intervention in Xenophobic Violence in Siyathemba. Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (Cormsa). Press Statement, 8th February, 2010.