Lampedusa is everywhere - Migrants in South Africa

Transcription

1 Lampedusa is everywhere - Migrants in South Africa A recent growth in xenophobic attacks on migrants marks a worrying trend in post- Apartheid South Africa. Arnold Wehmhoerner FEPS Correspondent for Southern Africa Cape Town, February 2015 Yet there has been a mixed history, with South Africa exhibiting one of the most liberal immigration regimes in developed economies and bringing significant benefit to some neighbouring states. Still, the government s support FEPS STUDIES FEBRUARY 2015 for despotic regimes like in Zimbabwe possibly contributes significantly to the need for asylum among Zimbabweans.

2 Fortress Europe is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea making it difficult for asylum seekers and economic migrants to enter the European Union. The desperation of these people is very high and many lose their lives trying to cross this natural barrier. South Africa has a land border of 4862 kilometres attracting migrants from the poor southern and central African states in the thousands every month. The United Nations Population Division lists 2.4 million migrants for South Africa in In Wikipedia an estimate is recorded of 5 to 8 million illegal 2 migrants of which an estimated 1.5 to 2 million are from Zimbabwe 3. It is in the nature of the matter that no reliable statistics of irregular migrants can exist. But in public life it is obvious that the South African economy is dependent on migrants. In the white suburbs of Cape Town and other urban centres the gardener is usually from Malawi, the waiter in the restaurants from Zimbabwe, and the carpark guard can be addressed in French because he is most likely from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Seasonal workers for harvesting in the agricultural sector are mostly non South Africans and peak demands for labour in the building industry are covered by migrants. Desperate men and women hang around at particular street intersections in urban centres waiting to be picked up for occasional jobs. The women hand out little papers with their names and contact numbers in the hope to get a job as housemaid or nanny. They live in shacks in the townships and informal settlements and are exposed to the discrimination of migrants without papers like everywhere around the world: working in precarious conditions with no social and health welfare or labour rights protection against mistreatment and exploitation. Many have to leave their families behind in their countries of origin and are seldom able to visit them having to go by bus for days through the African continent because flight tickets are too expensive and because they are lacking the required immigration papers. Their remittances are important contributions for the survival of their families at home and important sources of foreign currency inflows. It is estimated that Zimbabweans remitted between $ million in Roughly three quarters of migrants prefer informal channels (bus driver, friends etc.) to remit money despite the lack of reliability. The average cost was found to be 12-15% of the amount remitted the cost of 1 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). International Migration 2013 Wallchart 2 Wikipedia uses the term illegal 3 Strangling the lifeline Passop Report on Remittance flows from SA to Zimbabwe,

3 comparable corridors, such as the one between Mexico and USA is much lower, at 3-5%. 4 But most have no other choice because without papers they cannot open bank accounts or process money through channels like Western Union. South Africa has a long history of migrant labour coming internally from the so called homelands and from surrounding countries to work in the mines. The labourers were living in dormitories while the families stayed back, a system that destroyed family life. The downsizing and closures of mines in the 1990s led to a dramatic decline in employment opportunities for African migrants. Tens of thousands of foreign and local migrants were retrenched. After the collapse of apartheid South Africa promulgated very progressive asylum laws so that essentially the state cannot deny any migrant the claim and temporary status of an asylum seeker that includes also the right to work. The liberal approach was supported by the ANC elite who experienced the positive sides of political refugee status during exile in countries like Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Mozambique when the ANC was banned. Today the responsible minister complains that the reality is that economic migrants are abusing the (act) in order to have status in South Africa 5. With the downturn of the Zimbabwean economy under the Mugabe regime the influx of Zimbabweans rose dramatically. From 2009 onwards with the Dispensation for Zimbabweans Project Zimbabwean migrants could legalise their stay and were granted visas. Over Zimbabweans regulated their stay in this way. These visas expired on 31. December 2014 and new applications had to be made by this date. Over applications have been received and are supposed to be processed by the end of April But the majority of the Zimbabweans in South Africa did not follow the call for legalization because they suspect the process is a plan to identify them for deportation. The South African government seems to be reluctant to crack down on irregular migrants, probably because it is expensive and because it is a revolving door. Once taken over the border many make it back into South Africa the same day. Raids on migrants do not take place in Cape Town for example but happen in Johannesburg and Gauteng Province. Little statistic is available. In the first three months of 2013 for example Zimbabweans were deported according to the Minister of Home 4 Strangling the lifeline, Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor, February 25, 2014 in

4 Affairs. The African Centre for Migration and Society found that the South African Police Service in Gauteng spends more than million Rand on detecting, detaining and transferring illegal migrants to Lindela, South Africa s repatriation centre. 6 Illegal migrants may be held for 30 days as efforts are made to deport them. If a court issues a warrant, they may be held for 120 days. The conditions in Lindela camp are harsh, people sleep in rooms with 28 bunks. Inmates complain about lice and lack of soap and a total ban on books. Visiting Zimbabwean pastors described Lindela as a concentration camp. 7 Allegations of corruption are commonplace and the length of stay seems to depend on cash at hand: Nigerians seem to stay shortest and poor Malawians longest. Some refuse to declare their country of origin and are held longer than the 120 days period. In comparison to the estimated total of 5 to 8 million migrants in South Africa the number of deported migrants is of little influence on the entire situation. A country of nearly 50 million absorbs 5 million (to take the lower estimate) i.e. 10% of its population. Since migrants live in townships and informal settlements they are face to face with the poorest of the South African society, most of them internal migrants who have moved from the rural areas of the former homelands into the cities. This creates tense situations which have exploded into fatal clashes. The worst outbreak of violence happened during two weeks in May, The attacks on foreign immigrants commenced in Alexandra, Johannesburg on 11th May when gangs of local South Africans armed with clubs, machetes and torches ransacked and burned foreign owned shops and shacks. The violence spread rapidly to other suburbs in Gauteng province and during two weeks 62 people were killed of which one third were South Africans. Attacks on foreigners then reached Durban and Cape Town. The fatalities there were less (2 or 4 died) 8 because foreign migrants fled the townships in anticipation of violence and also because local community organisations told them to leave out of fear for their safety. Officials described this as voluntary evacuation. Around undocumented immigrants in Cape Town fled to ad- hoc shelters in community centres, churches and city s safe zones. Later they were housed in Centres of Safe Shelter. 6 Zimbabwe wants SA to keep its citizens in Mail & Guardian, Waiting for change at Lindela in Mail & Guardian, Vicki Igglesden: Xenophobic Violence in South Africa in May 2008 in Forced Migration Studies Programme,

5 The local attackers accused the immigrants of taking jobs and business away. But there also seems to have been criminal motivations involved because the foreign owned shops were easy targets for looting. Issues of justice remained largely unaddressed after A study of the South African Human Rights Commission found that a total of 597 cases were opened. A year and a half later only 16% of those cases had resulted in a guilty verdict, nearly all of them for theft and assault and nearly all of them with the option to pay a fine rather than face jail. 9 The fact that perpetrators enjoy so much impunity has negative effects for integration because migrants lose trust in the justice system and thus prefer not to report their cases. The most recent violent outbreak started on 19th January 2015 when a 14- year- old youngster was shot dead allegedly by a Somalian shop owner. The boy was part of a group trying to rob his shop in Soweto, Johannesburg. This sparked a week of violence in Gauteng province as well as KwaZulu- Natal in which 9 people were killed and shops of foreigners from Somalia, Bangladesh and Pakistan were looted. Over 180 people were arrested in connection with public violence and possession of stolen goods. The case against the Somalian shop owner was dropped because of lack of evidence. The recent violence opened a debate in South Africa on whether this was caused by xenophobic or criminal behaviour. The South African government denies that the looting of foreign shops were acts of xenophobia. Foreign shops mostly operated by Somalians are important for the daily supply of goods in townships. They are doing well and have displaced most of the original mom- and- pop shops run by South Africans. Research found out that the prices of the majority of items (rice, maize meal, milk, sugar, eggs, and cigarettes) in foreigner- run shops were slightly cheaper. The shops are operated by foreign families who live in the shop. Most of the owners from the same nationality who usually manage several shops live somewhere else. Foreigners in these shops are said to work harder and longer hours. 10 Soweto Business Access, an umbrella body that helps small businesses in Soweto, is opposed to the reopening of foreign shops because the interests of South Africans must be prioritised. It is claimed that foreign entrepreneurs are not ploughing money back into the township economy, and are being rude and not paying taxes Township politics fuel the attacks in Mail & Guardian, Somali spazas operate like Walmart in Cape Times, Foreigners warned not to reopen businesses yet,

6 One commentary believes that the very presence of thriving Somali shop owners insults unsuccessful, impoverished township dwellers and envy breeds resentment. 12 While that may be one of the reasons, the looters were not impoverished or hungry but went first for air time vouchers. It seems that most of them just seized the chance to grab handfuls of free goods. The acts were committed in broad daylight, sometimes in the presence of journalists and with police not far away. Police interventions were at best half- hearted and sometimes, some press reports indicate, veer into outright complicity with the looters. 13 Two factors seem to be of importance: the climate of impunity when committing acts against foreigners and a township environment in which public violence is highly permissible. Civil society in townships has learned that for example service delivery protests only grab the attention of authorities if demonstrations become violent. It is estimated that there are roughly 300 incidents of community protests a year in South Africa and at least 43 protesters were killed by the police in the last 10 years. If violent service delivery protests continue, and that seems to be the case, then this will exacerbate the vulnerability of foreign shops, and foreigners generally. 14 Considering these interdependent mechanism it is to be expected that violence against foreigners will occur time and again. In 25 years after apartheid South Africa has absorbed migrants of more than 10% of its population in a generally peaceful manner. In such a situation many other societies would have had difficulties not to develop outright xenophobia. The liberal climate in townships and informal settlements contributed to the integration of migrants. This is supported by the original multi ethnic composition in townships with a mix of various different local ethnic groups. It is rightly pointed out that in comparison to Western Europe xenophobia in South Africa is not mobilized from above by populist demagogues. In South Africa the resentment originates from below and is condemned by all political leaders as shameful. And secondly, attacks against Muslim Somalis have nothing to do with Islamophobia because the South African divided society has long learned to co- exist with diversity Heribert Adam and Kogila Moodley: Xenophobia: What the reaction says about SA in Looting is hardly alien to human nature in Mail & Guardian, Looting is hardly alien to human nature, Xenophobia: What the reaction says about SA

7 South Africa is a good neighbour to Zimbabwe by allowing thousands of Zimbabweans to legalize their status and for extending their work permits. This policy is not well received by everybody in a situation of high unemployment, also because employers prefer legalized foreigners and especially Zimbabweans because they are willing to go the extra mile. 16 Instead, the government should be criticized for supporting the dictatorial Mugabe regime which is the main cause for the exodus of so many Zimbabweans who would prefer to go home if the conditions there would improve. For South Africa with its long open borders it is impossible to control the influx of migrants from its poor neighbouring countries in the north and east. Immigration will continue as long as this economic divide exists. In a situation where South Africa does not have enough jobs for its own population and where it cannot provide decent sanitation, enough clean water and electricity for its townships one cannot expect that the country openly or indirectly supports poverty immigration. Toughening of asylum and immigration laws would not prevent illegal border crossings but would only harm those who really need asylum and deter those skilled immigrants which the country needs. However, the country needs to do more to punish perpetrators of violence against foreigners. The present policy creates the impression that such violence is condoned in the hope that this deters migrants from coming to South Africa. And tepid statements of organisations like Soweto Business Access seem to betray that incidents against Somali shops are welcome in order to get rid of unwanted competition. 16 Xenophobia: What the reaction says about SA, 2015