Why South Africans Should Greet ‎Refugees With Open Arms‎‎

By Abdifatah Ismail

Harassment, maiming, and at times, the killing of immigrants is widespread in South Africa.

Just a few days ago, shops run by Somalis in Plettenberg Bay were looted and their properties worth many thousands of rand were destroyed by local hooligans. According to preliminary reports, Xenophobia is believed to have triggered this attack.

The Oxford Dictionary defines Xenophobia as the “extreme fear or dislike of people from other countries”

Presently South Africa is home to over a million immigrants, many of whom left their homeland because of insecurity, human rights abuse and or economic deprivation. Among these immigrants are professionals, that include doctors and engineers.

The South African Government does not provide material help to refugees but encourages their integration into mainstream society by granting them legal permits (after determining their status) that entitle them to work in the country.

However, xenophobia is a major problem for these refugees.

Human rights organizations have warned against the increasing level of xenophobia in South Africa. Incidents of attacks on immigrants involving xenophobia were repeatedly reported in the press.

The refugee communities continue to be both physically and psychologically affected by this growing problem in South Africa, according to a report by Human Rights Watch 1998.

Hostility towards foreigners has been worsening for the past 10 years.

A survey conducted by the South African Immigration Project, a government funded program aimed at establishing the extent of the immigration problems in the country, found that 60% of South Africans believe immigrants weaken society.

Another equal number believes that immigrants put pressure on the economy.

Crime and the spread of disease are some of the things that the refugees are blamed for. However, available criminal data disproves that refugees are any more criminally-minded than the host society.

Research findings also contradict the claims that immigrants put strain on the economy.

Mattes et el (Still waiting for the barbarians: SA attitudes to immigrants and immigration Cape Town: SAMP Migration Policy Series No 14) point out that “skilled immigrants and migrants make an important contribution to the economy…by filling the gaps created by immigrating skills or inequalities of the country’s education and training systems”

Violence against immigrants has grown alarmingly. Recent studies reveal that half of South Africans would be prepared to personally prevent refugees from entering into areas they live in and won’t accept immigrants operating businesses in their neighborhoods.

Neither do they want their children to share education facilities with the refugees children (Jonathan 2001).

To say the least, this is an utter violation of international human rights conventions to which South Africa is a signatory.

Most immigrants to this country are refugees from low-income families who are already struggling with the difficulties related with the abject poverties and unemployment in this country and this negative mind-set, harassment and violence against them further increases their already weak and fragile socioeconomic conditions.

In Cape Town, a substantial number of the refugees depend hawking and trading at vending stalls for their livelihood.

Refugee complaints about socio economic problems in this country - that they are being given the short end of the stick in the allocation of street vending stalls by the municipality - is characterized by fears of xenophobic treatment, while the law enforcement agencies are found to be equally negative towards them.

A study on municipal police trainees and police officers’ attitudes towards foreigner’s shows that 30 % of respondents believe foreigners cause crimes.

The study was conducted by the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Braamfontein and published in 2001 under the title: Refugees, Safety and Xenophobia in South African Cities – The Role of the Local Government.

While the hatred towards refugees runs high among South Africans, it is apparent that refugees too feel that they can not cope with the too much anti immigrant prejudice against them.

Hamdi Mahamud, 25, a Somalian who left her country because of the civil strife there says “I feel sorry I came here…I didn’t know South Africa was like this. If I did, I would rather have stayed and died in my own country.” (Los Angeles Times13 August 2001).

Foreigners from non-African countries such as Asia and Europe are not subjected to the same mistreatments by South Africans as foreigners from African countries.

Ingrid Palmary, who was part of the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, termed this in 2002 a “gradation of prejudice” not any different from the apartheid racial hierarchies in which one’s identity was established by one’s complexion.

Inequality, it seems, is even evident in the provision of legal papers.

White immigrants who entered the country just before 1991 were granted permanent residency permits where as black immigrants who entered the country in the immediate aftermath of the apartheid do not have such papers but rather temporary permits.

The effect of xenophobia on refugees is problematic. It is clear that xenophobia has put a serious social, economic and psychological strain on the refugees in Cape Town.

The refugee’s inability to seek help from those who could assist them, like other government agencies, religious and non governmental organizations, has also worsened the situation and continues to do so.

It is worth mentioning that the strength of the South African society is attributable to its diversity. Hence inhibiting further diversity contradicts the very composition and strength of this society.

There is also the fact that the strength of the world’s greatest nations, such as the United States, lies in their ready acceptance of the many immigrants that make up their population.

It is time that South African society sees this positive side of immigrants and changes its attitude.

There is much more to be gained than lost as immigrants in the country are contributing to social and economic growth, and remember that South African businesses continue to move into to the interior of Sub Saharan Africa to reap millions of dollars in profit.

Abdifatah Ismail is a Somali student doing Master’s in Town Planning at the University of Cape Town.

This article first appeared in the Cape Argus on 22 May

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