As more parties embrace a tough line on immigration, xenophobia becomes a mainstream political tool

Source: Daily Maverick, 01/10/2018

In a country like South Africa, facing the problems that we do, there
are issues that politicians should mention, discuss and handle with
extreme care. The issue of non-South Africans, who are often referred
to as “foreign nationals” or “illegal immigrants” is certainly one of
them.
It appears that an increasing number of politicians now feel justified
in throwing immigration as red meat to their base for their own,
narrow and very personal advantage. There is now some evidence that
they are playing with fire and that, should they continue, it might be
impossible to control the unleashed monster.
It is surely the case that there is significant agreement with
xenophobic ideas in South Africa. Talk radio stations regularly have
to deal with people phoning in to complain about “foreigners”, about
how “they” are taking “our” places in hospitals and schools.
From time to time there are warnings from organisations, often from
KwaZulu-Natal, telling people who are not South African and who own
shops to close them down for periods of time. In some cases there is a
periodic aspect to it: the immigrants will often camp outside the
local police station, eventually the tensions will subside and they
will go back to their businesses as before.
There is also much blame to go around for how this situation was
created. While hard numbers can be difficult to come by, (Africheck
has provided an excellent explanation) the perception created is that
“we” are being “overwhelmed” by foreign nationals. This is obviously
not the case, and the actual numbers, such as they are available, are
much lower than the scare stories would suggest.
The main causes of this massive wave of immigration are relatively
simple: anyone who could leave Zimbabwe and wanted their children to
grow up in a better and richer space could hardly be blamed for trying
to do that. Our Home Affairs department has so far refused to comply
with court orders to reopen refugee processing centres. And the ones
which are open appear to be rife with corruption.
Over time, people come here from other countries to start a new life.
Eventually their identities change, and it can be hard to know what
they actually are. And in the meantime their legal status does not
change, which means they are always vulnerable to deportation and the
corruption that comes with that threat.
At the same time, many South Africans feel that their resources and
jobs are being “taken” by immigrants. This is the same dynamic that
happens around the world, in Britain, Europe, the US, almost
everywhere (except perhaps Canada). In a modern world where
perceptions can be more politically important than facts, politicians
will always attempt to use the issue to their own advantage.
In fact, it appears to be happening now.
Ten days ago the DA said that it would make immigration one of the key
issues of its manifesto. It said this was because our borders needed
to be better controlled. Then, on Tuesday last week, the DA’s Gauteng
premier candidate, and mayor of Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, joined the fray.
Quoting from what he said was an investigation by the Gauteng
Provincial Government and the National Council of Provinces, he
claimed that the province’s schools and hospitals were buckling under
the strain and that each patient discharged from the Charlotte Maxeke
Hospital alone cost R4,500 a day, which, he said, was never paid.
Startlingly, missing from the statement are actual hard numbers.
Surely, if there is proof of this, the key figure here is the actual
percentage of foreign patients treated at the hospital as a percentage
of the total figure. This information should not be that difficult to
come by. Msimanga’s other point, that the hospital has huge unpaid
debt is, of course, true. But it is also true that Gauteng is owed
millions of rand by other provinces, for treating “their” patients.
Msimanga may be guilty of providing generalised statements instead of
hard numbers.
The DA is not alone in this. The EFF has form here too. Its deputy
president, Floyd Shivambu, was accused of xenophobia for asking Home
Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba about whether he was a “Zimbabwean” in
Parliament.
Of course, considering it can appear that the EFF is trying to create
as much division as possible for its own purposes, it would make sense
for that party to engage, from time to time, in a little xenophobia
(Julius Malema has recently made inflammatory comments about “Boers”,
“Jews” and, of course, Indian South Africans.
This issue has the potential to put the ANC in a difficult position.
The history of the party, its role in ensuring “non-racialism” is the
central dynamic of South Africa, should indicate that it would never
turn against foreign nationals. The problem is that some of its
leaders may feel that it is squeezed by these developments, and that
it has no choice. The Deputy Police Minister Bongani Mkongi has said
that South Africa should not “surrender” the country to foreign
nationals.
This, of course, is a race to the bottom. That all political parties,
because of the prevailing lowest common denominator in the country
when it comes to xenophobia, sound decidedly hostile to the immigrants
is a worrying development. It does appear that in some quarters of the
population, sounding xenophobic is a vote-getting tactic. That will
always turn into an unprincipled competition as to who can take the
hardest line on this issue.
It is a dynamic that has been seen before many times around the world,
from the US, through Europe, to Sweden. This can lead to a
legitimisation of violence against “foreign nationals”, or people who
are believed to be so. Considering that it was just 10 years ago that
at least 58 people were killed simply because of the place where they
were born, the danger is very much still in the air.
What then, can be done to stop the politics of xenophobia from gaining
momentum?
The Independent Electoral Commission has a code of conduct that it
demands political parties stick to during campaigning season. It may
be important for the IEC to consider adding to the code that comments
deemed to be xenophobic are not allowed. However, some parties may
feel that it too big a limitation on their right to campaign on the
issue. The IEC could also try to ask political parties to voluntarily
agree not to use the fear of foreign nationals in their campaigning.
But that could also just invite dog-whistling and sub-tweeting.
It could also be that one of the political parties, and perhaps the
ANC, simply uses any xenophobic comment by another party to condemn
it. It can suggest that any xenophobic comment by the DA is proof that
it is not really a party of the Constitution, and that any comment by
the EFF is proof that it is inherently racist. In other words, to
quote Michelle Obama, “when they go low, we go high”. But that may be
too much to hope for, considering the ANC itself may feel vulnerable
on this issue.
In the longer term, of course, what is really needed is some sort of
solution for those who are deemed “illegal immigrants”. While there
will be those who believe they should simply leave the country, they
are unlikely to do so, particularly if their children are now in
schools here. Rather, it would be better to roll with the dynamic that
now appears unstoppable.
This would involve giving legal recognition to the situation on the
ground. Which is surely easier than changing the situation on the
ground. Again, while anecdotes abound, it is hard to know which skills
foreign nationals have. But if their skills can be put to work
unlocking our economy, it is surely the case that it would be churlish
to refuse to use them.
There is, of course, another reason why this should happen, despite
what our present-day politicians say. It is because, just as racism is
impossible to explain to a child now, so, one day, will it be
impossible to explain why someone should be treated differently just
because of the geographical co-ordinates they were born in.