South African President Thabo Mbeki at the recent World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town. Mbeki made a rare national address
to condemn anti-immigrant violence but faced criticism
for doing too little, too late after two weeks of unrest.
This article caught my eye this morning in Malaysia's New Straits Times:
AS South Africa bade farewell to the eight African heads of state who had attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Cape Town earlier this month, President Thabo Mbeki found himself having to answer yet more questions about last month's attacks on thousands of African migrant workers living in his country. Poor black South Africans accuse them of getting scarce jobs as well as government-subsidised housing.
This recent spate of xenophobic violence left more than 62 people dead, injured some 670 and displaced more than 100,000 migrants in the process. Although calm was restored on South African streets in the days ahead of the WEF, visiting African dignitaries looked towards Pretoria for guarantees of safety for their nationals.
As President Mbeki scrambled to find answers as to what had caused last month's mayhem, which sent shock waves across the rest of the continent, many migrants could be seen fleeing the country, while those who couldn't slowly tried to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.
However, unlike their fellow Mozambicans or Malawians, for many Zimbabweans the option of going home simply does not exist. With widespread reports of violence ahead of their country's second presidential poll on Friday, the evolving social and economic crisis in Zimbabwe has contributed to an unprecedented exodus of Zimbabweans.
Although most Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa left their home country in hopes of finding better lives and opportunities in their more prosperous southern neighbour, thousands more have fled the political repression by the state and are determined not to return to Zimbabwe until political and economic conditions improve, perhaps with the departure of President Robert Mugabe.
The country is undergoing an unprecedented flight of skills from both the public and private sector to neighbouring South Africa. Up to three million Zimbabweans are estimated to be currently living in South Africa. The problem is exacerbated by South African visa requirements for would-be Zimbabwean travellers, issued by a corrupt South African Home Affairs Department, which makes it increasingly easier to obtain illegal identity documents and work permits.
To make matters worse, economic conditions in South Africa have also worsened considerably in recent months. Economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of the year, dropping to a six-year low. The mining industry, a lifeline for the country's economy, saw its output plummet by more than 22 per cent this year - plumbing the lowest level in four decades. Meanwhile, the worst nationwide blackout in the country's history is destroying investor confidence in South Africa and forcing many industries to shed jobs as a cost-effective measure to minimise the negative effect of higher production costs and declining revenues.
The government stands accused of having done little to avert the crisis. Blamed for lacking a long-term vision and being slow to respond to calls from the private and public sectors to inject much-needed human and financial resources into this sector to upgrade the country's crumbling power infrastructure, the African National Congress government has been criticised for having millions of South Africans suffer daily blackouts earlier this year.
With unemployment unofficially estimated at 40 per cent, surging food prices, a crumbling health care sector, the heavy impact of the HIV pandemic that affects more than five million South Africans, and an ever-increasing crime rate, South Africans have come to look at African migrants as scapegoats for their socioeconomic woes.
The recent criminal violence has tarnished South Africa's image as a land of hope and equal opportunity throughout the continent. Critics contend that the government should shoulder some of the blame for the current crisis. Its market-oriented macro-economic policy, combined with affirmative action programmes designed to deal with the legacies of apartheid, has inevitably widened the gap between an affluent white minority population and a small but steadily growing black upper class with strong ties to government, and the rest of the population, many of whom live in abject poverty.
The government's policies have been undermined by a failure of service delivery at local level and, more importantly, by the severe skills shortage the country faces as a result of emigration. The question now remains how long poor South Africans' frustrations over the increasingly dire socio-economic situation will be targeted at their African brethren, before being levelled against their own government.
There may come a time when South Africans will start pointing fingers at their national leaders, asking whether their struggle to end apartheid 14 years ago was not in vain. In the meantime, Zimbabweans living in South Africa are preparing for more difficult times ahead.
Hany Besada is senior researcher and programme leader of Health and Social Governance at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada.
