High unemployment and a failure to
address growing inequality are to
blame for a wave of anti-immigrant
attacks in South Africa, say analysts.
“We believe that the cause of the
xenophobic attacks is policy failure
by the government,” said Mienke
Mary Steytler, of the South African
Institute of Race Relations. “High
unemployment and inequality are
not being tackled.”
The violence has left at least six
dead and more than a thousand
displaced since the beginning of the
month, with attacks spreading from
the east coast city of Durban to
parts of the economic hub,
Johannesburg.
“The root of this problem lies in our
inability to bring about economic
growth and decrease the inequality
that plagues our nation,” said the
main opposition Democratic
Alliance’s leader in parliament
Mmusi Maimane.
A woman holds a cardboard as she
takes part in a "peace march"
against xenophobia attended by
thousands of people in Durban on
April 16, 2015. South African
President Jacob Zuma on April 16
appealed for the end of attacks on
immigrants as a wave of violence
that has left at least six people
dead threatened to spread across
the country. In the past two weeks,
shops and homes owned by Somalis,
Ethiopians, Malawians and other
immigrants in Durban and
surrounding townships have been
targeted, forcing families to flee to
camps protected by armed guards.
AFP PHOTO
A woman holds a cardboard as she
takes part in a “peace march”
against xenophobia attended by
thousands of people in Durban on
April 16, 2015. South African
President Jacob Zuma on April 16
appealed for the end of attacks on
immigrants as a wave of violence
that has left at least six people
dead threatened to spread across
the country. In the past two weeks,
shops and homes owned by Somalis,
Ethiopians, Malawians and other
immigrants in Durban and
surrounding townships have been
targeted, forcing families to flee to
camps protected by armed guards.
AFP PHOTO
“It is the hopelessness that results
from unemployment that drives drug
use and criminality in these
communities, and underlies
xenophobic attacks.”
In January, foreign shopkeepers in
and around the vast township of
Soweto, south of Johannesburg, were
forced to flee and six were killed as
looters rampaged through the area.
And in 2008, 62 people were killed in
xenophobic violence across the city’s
townships.
– ‘Take their bags and go’ –
The current outbreak has been
largely blamed on a speech last
month by King Goodwill Zwelethini,
traditional leader of the Zulus, in
which he blamed foreigners for
South Africa’s high crime rate and
said they must “take their bags and
go” — to loud applause.
The king has since said his words
were misinterpreted, but for some,
Zwelithini simply articulated what
many were feeling.
“People are frustrated,” said Braam
Hanekom, director of Passop (People
against Suffering, Oppression and
Poverty), a Cape Town non-profit
organisation that supports asylum
seekers, refugees and immigrants.
“It’s hard to fight for jobs. It’s hard
to fix the economy. It’s hard to
create opportunities. It’s very easy
to blame someone, but it’s hard to
blame the elected leadership who
have the majority of support on the
ground.
“It’s much easier to find a soft target
to express your frustrations,
whatever those frustrations are, and
foreign nationals are the soft target
that frustrated communities have
chosen to pick on.”
– 1 percent of population –
Accused of flooding the country,
foreigners in fact make up just one
percent of the working population in
KwaZulu-Natal province — where the
latest violence began — and only
four percent nationally, according to
a study released last year by the
Wits University-based Migrating for
Work Research Consortium.
The researchers also found foreign
workers were more likely to take jobs
South Africans are not willing to do,
or to start their own business: 21
percent were self-employed, 11
percent were employers.
In downtown Johannesburg earlier
this week, as foreign traders closed
shop and clustered anxiously on the
sidewalk, South African Eveline
Mangani elbowed her way in front of
a camera and began loudly decrying
the anti-immigrant sentiments.
“I’m very hurt by people saying they
must be kicked out of the country,
because I survive thanks to them,”
she said.
“I get all my stock to resell from
them. So I can put food on the
table so that my five kids can
survive. Now the shops are closed
and look at my bag: it’s empty. I
want the shops to open and I want
them to be protected -– Somalis,
Ghanaians, Ethiopians must be
protected.”
The commercial success of foreigners
running small general stores can be
a sore point -– and a cause for envy,
said Paul Ngema, provincial general
secretary of the National African
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(NAFCOC).
“When you look at people, they
derive their income from running
‘spaza’ shops. Most of these
foreigners, they come and also run
the same small businesses -– and
they happen to do it better than the
local ones. You may call it perhaps
jealousy.”
In January, Small Business
Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu
was accused of fuelling anti-
immigrant sentiment when she said
foreign shopkeepers must share
their trade secrets.
“Foreigners need to understand that
they are here as a courtesy and our
priority is to the people of this
country first and foremost,” she was
reported as saying at the time.
“They cannot barricade themselves
in and not share their practices with
local business owners.”
But as the violence has continued
the message from government has
changed.
“Many (foreigners) are in the country
legally and contribute to the
economy and social development of
the country. Many bring skills that
are scarce that help us to develop
the economy and are most welcome
to live our country,” President Jacob
Zuma said in parliament Thursday
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/anger-at-inequality-drives-s-africa-xenophobic-attacks/

Does that justify the attacks on foreign nationals?




Southafricans are stuupid. Apartheid has taken what's left of their sense.

This is a case of jealousy and failure on d part of SA citizens to run good business

Their frustration shouldn't b on d foreigners!
They should learn from d foreigners and work hard instead of being lazy and waiting for who to kill for being lazy and lacking of good business ideas

So unemployment isn't applicable to Nigeria alone. Y are ll nailing Oga jona den. But at d same time, dis is too much from d south africans.