Zero-sum thinking is a visa to a moonless future

Source: Marvin Meintjies – Business Day, 04/08/2015

SA is contested turf. At the highest level, it`s a contest about who
controls the levers of state power and who controls "monopoly capital"
and the economy. That filters right down to arguments over Springbok
selection and maybe even into fights over parking spaces at shopping
malls.


This is not surprising. Our republic is old but our nation is a young
one.


The legacy of apartheid means we must still grapple with the pace of
transformation at all levels of society, while trying to ensure that
we extend the most basic services to the most vulnerable among us, and
do so without there being any personal cost to diverse working-class,
middle-class and wealthy South Africans.


That`s a tricky stunt. Particularly in a country where people tend to
frame arguments like this: the Boks lost because there were too many
black players; and the Boks lost because Heyneke Meyer continues to
overlook talented black players.


So it`s not surprising that new immigration rules have so entrenched
people in their opposing views that it`s all become a bit toxic. It`s
easy to understand why. At issue are two imperatives: growing the
economy and safeguarding jobs in the tourism sector; and protecting
the safety of children moving through our borders.


Both are emotive issues and both are affected by the new rules. On the
one hand, it is about people`s livelihoods. And people tend to get
very angry if there`s any perceived threat to their livelihoods. Ditto
if the safety of their children is threatened.


The nature of the debate around the immigration rules has been to set
these two issues up as if they are competing imperatives. But are they
really? Or is that a consequence of the zero-sum game mentality that
appears to be pervasive in public discourse in SA. Surely the Boks can
win and we can have a team that is more reflective of our nation. No?
Surely we can protect children from being trafficked without doing
undue harm to tourism. No?
I posed that question to the man at the centre of the storm, Home
Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, in London on Friday. And, in a piece
that ran in this weekend`s Sunday Times, he claimed those in the
tourism sector who`ve gone all out to campaign against the new
regulations had done a disservice to themselves and the country. That
though invited to work with his department on measures to mitigate the
effects of the new rules that are a legislative imperative derived
from local and international statutes to which SA is a signatory,
they`ve prophesised doom and tried to discredit him and his department
in the press rather than take up his repeated invitations to work
together.


He said: "Now if their view is that they want all or nothing, well I
will not get myself involved in that. I think the zero-sum game
approach belongs to them only."


Well, it`s trite but true that you can`t start a negotiation if your
opening gambit is to insult the guy across the table. That usually
just ends in a fight.


And that`s where we are with the immigration rules. A bunfight at the
OK Bazaar. Let us hope that the interministerial committee looking at
addressing the unintended consequences of the new rules is able to do
so without the emotions clouding the judgments of those on all sides
of this debate.


In Visa Veritas.
I`ve written previously that David Cameron has signalled his
government`s intention to crack down on non-European Union immigration
into the UK. Which means life is going to get a little more
interesting for South Africans wanting to live, work or study in the
UK.


The thousands of South African nurses working in the UK are likely to
be affected when the autumn review of immigration rules is announced
soon.


South Africans have been required to obtain a visa to enter the UK
since 2009. And while SA has not reciprocated by requiring all UK
citizens to obtain visas — only UK diplomats and official passport
holders have that burden — there is little sign the UK will change
it`s policy. Quite the opposite.


Gigaba said there is "currently no engagement" with the UK on visa
requirements for South Africans.


"We quite seriously cannot be begging … we`ve done everything, availed
our facilities for inspection by the senior officials of the UK, they
have made commitments which were not fulfilled." He added, "the ball
is no longer in our court".


But with immigration being the hot button political issue it is in the
UK, it looks like there`s a bad moon rising.