A failure of leadership and local government structures has created a fertile ground for the breeding of xenophobic violence in the Cape's informal settlements.
While a prompt show of force by law enforcement authorities - with the hardcore back-up of military armoured vehicles in risk areas such as Du Noon, Khayelitsha and Masiphumelele - appears to have headed off a threatened cycle of violence that erupted at the weekend, few think the problem is going to go away.
At the conclusion of the World Cup on Sunday, a sudden spike in attacks on foreigners in informal settlements around the Cape peninsula raised fears that a new cycle of xenophobic violence - like the conflagration that raged in 2008, when more than 60 people were killed - was about to be unleashed.
Nearly a dozen incidents of violence against foreigners - most of them Somali shopkeepers - were recorded between Sunday, the day of the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, and yesterday morning.
After the weekend's attacks, scores of Somalis have taken refuge in police stations and community halls around the Cape.
Zimbabweans continued to flee for their lives from informal settlements to congregate at makeshift places of refuge around highway truckstops and filling stations on the N1, seeking transport back to their country.
In their official responses, police dismissed the sudden spike in xenophobic violence as unconnected crimes.
However, the attacks have come in the midst of a whispering campaign in townships and informal settlements around the country, warning foreigners to leave South Africa before the end of the World Cup - or face the consequences.
In at least one instance, in Blikkiesdorp, this threat was conveyed via a meeting of the local community apparently convened by local leaders.
But in most cases the threat of violence has been voiced anonymously in the impersonal environment of taxis, trains and shebeens.
According to social conflict analyst Stef Snel, the tension can be traced back to basic economic circumstances and to a competition by communities for scarce resources.
"There isn't enough to go around, it is that simple - not enough housing, not enough jobs, not enough food," Snel said.
"And most of what there is comes in the form of government handouts, to be administered by often corrupt and unaccountable councillors and civic officials.
"Control over these resources is not only power, it is also profit. And the problem is that everything - from positions on housing lists to job creation programmes to food distribution initiatives - gets sold, and rather than alleviating the social problems, often exacerbates them.
"Then, when the community loses patience, the foreigners get blamed. They are the convenient scapegoats," he said.
The problem is not new. After the 2008 xenophobic attacks, the focus fell particularly on two elements in the social dynamic as breeding grounds for xenophobic violence: migrant workers at informal settlements; and a largely opportunistic leadership that had established itself in the ANC's onetime struggle alliance partner, the SA National Civics Organisation (Sanco).
In 2008, several Sanco leaders overtly supported the drive to expel foreigners from the country, and, in some cases were suspected of being behind the violence directed against them.
Chris Stali, Sanco provincial secretary, said threats against foreigners reflected "political immaturity and a lack of understanding of the issues".
"We have a new leadership now. The old leadership stole services and projects and when the community asked about jobs, they said they must ask the foreigners. Our leadership is different, we don't have our own political and financial interests."
But the new Sanco leadership is not having it all its own way.
In areas such as Du Noon, the former Sanco leadership - though suspended by Sanco nationally, and though last elected in 1997 (ostensibly for a single year term) - is refusing to stand down.
The chairperson of the "other" Sanco - who has also been named as fomenting xenophobic violence in the area - continues to administer a feeding programme in the area, which one youth league leader in the area said had never fed the hungry of Du Noon.
The youth leader, wanting to remain anonymous for fear of her safety, said the suspended Sanco leadership also continued to control the provision of RDP housing in the area.
- Cape Argus
While a prompt show of force by law enforcement authorities - with the hardcore back-up of military armoured vehicles in risk areas such as Du Noon, Khayelitsha and Masiphumelele - appears to have headed off a threatened cycle of violence that erupted at the weekend, few think the problem is going to go away.
At the conclusion of the World Cup on Sunday, a sudden spike in attacks on foreigners in informal settlements around the Cape peninsula raised fears that a new cycle of xenophobic violence - like the conflagration that raged in 2008, when more than 60 people were killed - was about to be unleashed.
Nearly a dozen incidents of violence against foreigners - most of them Somali shopkeepers - were recorded between Sunday, the day of the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, and yesterday morning.
After the weekend's attacks, scores of Somalis have taken refuge in police stations and community halls around the Cape.
Zimbabweans continued to flee for their lives from informal settlements to congregate at makeshift places of refuge around highway truckstops and filling stations on the N1, seeking transport back to their country.
In their official responses, police dismissed the sudden spike in xenophobic violence as unconnected crimes.
However, the attacks have come in the midst of a whispering campaign in townships and informal settlements around the country, warning foreigners to leave South Africa before the end of the World Cup - or face the consequences.
In at least one instance, in Blikkiesdorp, this threat was conveyed via a meeting of the local community apparently convened by local leaders.
But in most cases the threat of violence has been voiced anonymously in the impersonal environment of taxis, trains and shebeens.
According to social conflict analyst Stef Snel, the tension can be traced back to basic economic circumstances and to a competition by communities for scarce resources.
"There isn't enough to go around, it is that simple - not enough housing, not enough jobs, not enough food," Snel said.
"And most of what there is comes in the form of government handouts, to be administered by often corrupt and unaccountable councillors and civic officials.
"Control over these resources is not only power, it is also profit. And the problem is that everything - from positions on housing lists to job creation programmes to food distribution initiatives - gets sold, and rather than alleviating the social problems, often exacerbates them.
"Then, when the community loses patience, the foreigners get blamed. They are the convenient scapegoats," he said.
The problem is not new. After the 2008 xenophobic attacks, the focus fell particularly on two elements in the social dynamic as breeding grounds for xenophobic violence: migrant workers at informal settlements; and a largely opportunistic leadership that had established itself in the ANC's onetime struggle alliance partner, the SA National Civics Organisation (Sanco).
In 2008, several Sanco leaders overtly supported the drive to expel foreigners from the country, and, in some cases were suspected of being behind the violence directed against them.
Chris Stali, Sanco provincial secretary, said threats against foreigners reflected "political immaturity and a lack of understanding of the issues".
"We have a new leadership now. The old leadership stole services and projects and when the community asked about jobs, they said they must ask the foreigners. Our leadership is different, we don't have our own political and financial interests."
But the new Sanco leadership is not having it all its own way.
In areas such as Du Noon, the former Sanco leadership - though suspended by Sanco nationally, and though last elected in 1997 (ostensibly for a single year term) - is refusing to stand down.
The chairperson of the "other" Sanco - who has also been named as fomenting xenophobic violence in the area - continues to administer a feeding programme in the area, which one youth league leader in the area said had never fed the hungry of Du Noon.
The youth leader, wanting to remain anonymous for fear of her safety, said the suspended Sanco leadership also continued to control the provision of RDP housing in the area.
- Cape Argus
No comments:
Post a Comment