South Africa is on fire.
Not long ago, a country that was once best known for its system of Apartheid and its imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, re-imagined itself. A country that had been mired in strife pledged to come together to embrace diversity and ensure equality. As president, Mandela promised every South African would have a roof over his head. Each child would receive a proper education. All would be welcome in South Africa, land of the “Rainbow People.”
This vision has come undone. Xenophobic attacks have occurred throughout the country, mainly in Alexandra, a suburb north of Johannesburg. Sixty-two people have been murdered, hundreds have been injured and 20,000 people have been displaced. Most of the victims have been Zimbabweans, many of whom fled the tyranny of President Mugabe, and some have been from Mozambique.
The perpetrators? Black South Africans. The racial epithet “Makwerekwere” has re-emerged and is being spouted at foreign nationals with venom. South African Broadcasting Corporation footage shows people telling foreign nationals to stop taking over their jobs, women and schools. Houses have been burned, women have been raped, children have been orphaned, and families have been separated. The foreign nationals are afraid for their lives. Many survivors, uncertain of their future, have been placed in temporary shelters with unsanitary conditions. The government has pledged to help reintegrate them into their South African communities but has not yet figured how to do it.
Conflict is not unusual in a country with an emerging economy and in the process of redefining itself. What’s precarious about this situation is that after hundreds of years of oppression, black South Africans are turning on their brothers and sisters who have only come to the country to obtain freedom. In his book, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire says that the “oppressed become the oppressor,” meaning that we often do not learn from our history but instead take the tools of the oppressor and use them against others. Fear is usually the motivator.
South Africa’s lofty goals for citizens have not unfolded as quickly as many had hoped since Apartheid ended, nor have living conditions of most black South Africans improved much. The development of the Black Empowerment Enterprise has resulted in a very small black middle class.
Unofficial unemployment rates indicate more than 40 percent of South Africans are unemployed. In some parts of the Eastern Cape, unemployment is thought to be about 90 percent.
Rural and township schools are in despair with few to no resources, low teacher salaries, questionable leadership and deplorable conditions. When coupled with South Africa’s “quiet diplomacy” with neighboring countries — resulting in an influx of 1 million to 3 million unaccounted foreign nationals within five years — chaos was bound to emerge. Black South Africans are afraid their lives are not improving, certainly with the speed many thought would happen post-Apartheid.
Their fears are rational, but their methods are not. Despair exists here because so many people are living in poverty — not American poverty, but South African poverty, which looks vastly different. People have tried to fight back, as evidenced by the public servants’ strike last year, when teachers, nurses and police officers went on strike against the government because of low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate resources. After being denied a 12 percent raise, they rebelled, taking to the streets and demanding their due. They initially received a 9 percent raise and are currently negotiating a 10.5 percent raise. What has happened in the interim? Teachers are being forced to pay back the government for missed time, resulting in docked paychecks in the months of February, May, and August. Morale is low and people are questioning the value of the strike.
With inflation going through the roof, unemployment seeming more and more permanent for many, and an economy emerging that many feel doesn’t include them, things were bound to go from bad to worse.
While I was here last year during the strike, which was pretty tumultuous, I never would have imagined that xenophobia would surface here just one year later, particularly with the wonderful South Africans (black, white, Indian, “coloured”) that I have met.
Poor people killing other poor people; black South Africans killing other black Africans. They have even brought back “necklacing,” a method used by whites during the Apartheid era to burn blacks alive with rubber tires. Now black South Africans are using this technique on other black people.
I often wonder if this is where we are headed in our country. The rhetoric in United States about Latino “illegal aliens” sounds hauntingly similar to what said about foreign nationals in South Africa. I hope not. Unfortunately, what’s happening in South Africa is what happens when fear becomes real.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2008.
