The escalation of xenophobic sentiments in the country is cause for concern in need of urgent attention before it can wreak even further damage. In recent weeks, senior government officials and some prominent politicians were embroiled in controversies where they opportunistically or inadvertently fanned the flames of xenophobia.
Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba, a qualified medical doctor, threw the Hippocratic Oath out of the proverbial window when she was recently caught on video confronting a patient about getting medical attention in SA, claiming that foreigners were straining the healthcare system. She told the woman to seek medical attention from Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government instead.
Following the backlash she received for her tactless comments, she has refused to back down or apologise. In another shocking incident, Patriotic Alliance and Central Karoo mayor, Gayton McKenzie, said he would not hesitate to turn off a foreigner’s oxygen to save a South African. McKenzie in his warped logic probably believes such an act would be the most patriotic thing to do.
Last week, Operation Dudula members, who are fast earning the title of perennial offenders, stopped suspected foreigners from using Tshwane’s Kalafong Hospital. The criterion used for deciding who qualified for medical treatment was degree of skin colour. Not whether the patients were black or white, but how black they were. Absurd indeed! At Hillbrow Clinic, Dudula demanded that foreigners pay for services received.
In the aftermath of the extension of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP), which will determine whether 178,000 Zimbabweans will be allowed to live and work in the country, by department of home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi, a lawyer representing ZEP holders, Simba Chitando, alleged that he and his family had been exposed to an unprecedented campaign of intimidation and harassment by the department.
According to his former wife, Nosiphiwo Jodwana, she was visited by home affairs officials at her workplace and that an affidavit was extracted from her under duress. She also claimed that one of the officials made sexual advances toward her.
What can be discerned from most of these incidents is that xenophobia is often explicitly racialised, targeting low-income black migrants and refugees and in some cases South African citizens accused of being “too black to be a South African”.
In 1995, late former president Nelson Mandela said: “It saddens and angers me to see the rising hatred of foreigners. We cannot blame other people for our troubles.”
At the heart of the resentment against foreigners is competition for scarce jobs such as labourers, waiters, domestic helpers and other unskilled labour. Anti-migrant discourse from senior government officials can and has fanned the flames of violence and the state has dismally failed to prevent further violence or hold perpetrators accountable. At the onset of xenophobic violence in 2008, 62 people were killed with at least 100,000 displaced.
Following another outbreak in 2015, over 600 Nigerian citizens returned home after over 1,000 foreign-owned businesses were vandalised in Pretoria and Johannesburg, leading to the deaths of at least 12 people. To exacerbate the problem, low levels of trust in the police and the high crime levels have fuelled local-level vigilante groups who scapegoat foreigners.
To counter the scourge of xenophobia, there is a need for fact-based communication campaigns aimed at dismantling the misconceptions about foreigners. At school level, teachers should work to create a positive environment for foreign pupils where they can share their experiences. Structures should be provided within which all pupils know that discrimination of any sort is not tolerated.
There is also a need to highlight commonalities and individuality wherein there is acknowledgement of what unites the pupils and what makes them unique. Unity in diversity should not be a mere slogan, but a lived reality. Schools should take a stand and speak out against the use of offensive language, particularly with discriminatory slurs such as kwerekwere to refer to foreigners of African origin.
The onus is on teachers to increase their understanding about immigration and to be well-versed about the issues facing pupils and their families. Pupils should be given platforms to voice their concerns and goals.
Acts of xenophobia and violence are unacceptable, inhuman, and a clear violation of basic human rights and teachers need to be at the front line of the fight against xenophobia by stressing the crucial role of education in contributing to the elimination of poverty, unemployment, inequality and other related scourges.
The notion that migrants take jobs and opportunities from South Africans should be dispelled as immigrants cannot be held responsible for the economic difficulties faced by the majority of the population in SA.
To repair some of the damage caused to the country by the attacks on immigrants, teachers should take up their roles as nation-builders by fostering tolerance and respect for all people regardless of nationality, race, colour, culture or religion.
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