Together with its Communist Party ally, South Africa’s ANC is practising an open-borders policy which has caused an unprecedented inflow of migrants and refugees. Not only has this led to violence and conflict, but even black commentators inside South Africa are defying the global media consensus by opposing further immigration.
A former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Indian-South African Judge Navi Pillay, chaired a seven-member panel that released its report in April 2016, reinforced what was already known about xenophobic violence in South Africa.
Such violence has left scores injured, property destroyed and thousands of foreigners displaced. Fear is still palpable in African immigrant communities, given that on the streets there are continuous rumours circulating, indicating that xenophobia is very much alive.
Last year local blacks attacked foreign Africans, particularly targeting Malawians, Zimbabweans, Ethiopians and Mozambicans, in several townships in and around Durban. Some of the victims were reportedly stabbed and one man was burnt alive.
A report by the Special Reference Group on Migration and Community Integration appointed to investigate the causes and consequences of the March-May 2015 violent attacks against foreign nationals in which seven people died, came to the conclusion that shop owners were under attack, because… they were foreigners.
The report found many of the underlying tensions between foreigners and locals had roots in the xenophobic violence of 2008, when 62 people including South Africans were killed. Because these tensions have not been resolved, the report concluded, “there is strong possibility of recurrence”.
“The failure of media houses to contextualise the violent occurrences sent shockwaves across the country and around the world,” the government-commissioned report concluded. But neither the illustrious panel members nor the media in South Africa – and by extension the British media – were willing to set aside the artificial debates about “African unity” and black racial solidarity, and blamed Apartheid instead.
The mainstream press, blinded by a Soros agenda, persuaded readers that Africans had expressed some kind of revolt against the presence of sinsiter whites at an undisclosed location, all proto-Nazis or fascists harking back to colonial rule. But in fact, all they were doing was to exacerbate tensions.
They refused to consider that the current divisions were tribal and had no connection with the “global” Marxist themes they persist in foisting upon the public.
After the flare-up, comments made by Zulu King Zwelithini were given as the likely cause for the rampant hatred and murder sprees. But his comments, although unkind, were rather an attempt at a rational explanation of why good fences make good neighbours and why open borders have failed spectacularly.
Commentators accused him of “inciting racial hatred” after he delivered a speech telling foreigners to leave the country in 2015. The King told cheering supporters that foreigners did not fit in culturally. They “dirty our streets” with their “unsightly goods hanging all over our shops” in Durban, he said. “We ask foreign nationals to pack their belongings and go back to their countries.”
While condemning the attacks, the Zulu King told the London Guardian later that if he had given an order to kill foreigners, “this country would be reduced to ashes”.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had earlier expressed concerns about the violence and urged the South African government to cease deportation of Zimbabwean nationals and also to allow the refugees and asylum seekers to regularise their stay in the country. This recommendation only fuelled the existing tensions.
Malawi has repatriated of some of its nationals from South Africa. The Mozambican government sponsored a repatriation drive that saw the registration of at least 3 275 individuals who wished to go back to their own country, fearing ethnic attacks from South African blacks.
In July this year inter-tribal violence broke out over dissatisfaction with the appointment of a Zulu as the incumbent African National Congress’s (ANC) mayoral candidate during the South African municipal elections. The “Tshwane riots” occurred in Pretoria on the 20th June 2016 on a large scale, leading to the deaths of at least 5 people and lasting several days.
Rioters looted businesses and attacked mostly immigrants and foreign traders. Nineteen busses worth millions were torched, with the worst rioting occurring in the black areas of Mamelodi‚ Atteridgeville‚ Mabopane‚ Soshanguve and Hammanskraal.
President Jacob Zuma’s son Edward warned that South Africa was “sitting on a ticking time bomb”. Despite a public backlash, Edward Zuma has refused to apologise. “People think that I am being xenophobic, but I am not, I am just trying to make a point that we have a problem,” he told News24, a mainstream website.
Without irony, British journalists pointed to the “ghettoisation” of different ethnic groups under Apartheid as the underlying cause of the riots. But Apartheid was dismantled decades ago while Britain still maintains two typical “Bantustans” or tribal homelands, Lesotho and Swaziland, as peaceful Apartheid relics, while pretending that somehow tribalism has ceased to exist.
In the midst of staggeringly high unemployment figures, South Africa is host to more registered asylum seekers than any other country in the world at the end of 2015, according to a report by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
According to the UN report, more than half, or 54 percent of all refugees worldwide came from just three countries – the Syrian Arab Republic (4.9 million), Afghanistan (2.7 million) and Somalia (1.1 million). South Africa currently hosts 41 500 Somali refugees.
In addition, South Africa has by a large margin the highest reported number of pending asylum applications, according to News24.
Most asylum applications are from people who flee sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for 84 percent of the total. After Zimbabwe, the biggest number of asylum applications is from Ethiopia (9 300), Nigeria (6 600), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (6 400).
As black columnist Stannich Makiele’s says, he believes the unemployment rate in South Africa is not 25 percent but rather around 50 percent or more. Failed African states, which adopted British Marxism, like Zimbabwe, clearly contribute largely to South Africa’s sky-high unemployment rate due to the globalist open-border policy.
Makiele writes: “In Soweto for an example, I don’t know any house that has more than 5 African adults whom are all working in formal employment. In certain rare instances only 4 of those are working but in most cases it is either 3 or less of them that are working. In some instances there is none. In most instances where there is none there normally are a few individuals if not all with educational qualifications.
“There are many factors that contribute to our unemployment but the one that stands out is the high number of immigrants both documented and undocumented. All those undocumented normally make use of fraudulently obtained South African ID books.”
These IDs offer advantages over legal documents, Makiele says. “Because you don’t need to go to any home affairs offices periodically and also do not require any accompanying documents like work permits when applying for a job. This is the preferred route among Zimbabweans and Mozambicans as it only needs anything from R3000 and above.”
Corruption could be seen as one of the unintended consequences of large-scale immigration, as the demand for identification documents and “papers” eventually pushes prices up to a level where officials will illegally supply “real” IDs.
According to columnist Stanich Makiele, “We have been told that South Africa’s tourism industry has bounced back from its previous decline as the number of tourists increased to just over 1 million in 2015. The (tourism) minister further observed that the majority of those were from the other countries on the African continent. This at first glance looks to be a good thing but on further scrutiny you will realise that a number of those that come here never go back home as they come here to visit family and the next think you know they have South African born ID documents.”
As a result of people from all over Africa travelling on fake or “real fake” South African passports, New Zealand took the unprecedented step of imposing visa requirements for South Africans. The country’s top immigration official, Peter Elms, put it diplomatically, “We are committed to creating an immigration system that actively welcomes and encourages legitimate visitors to New Zealand, but at the same time is able to prevent those who do not meet immigration requirements.”
Reasons for South Africa’s attraction as a destination for migrants is the country’s relative quality of life compared to other African countries, a sophisticated banking system and the availability of free state-funded education and medical care for foreign nationals. But as Stannich Makiele says:
“Let us be honest here. No matter how big or rich your country is it is a fact that you cannot keep accepting refugees for ever. South Africa has the highest reported number of applications pending at any stage of the asylum procedure. The number of asylum seekers at the end of 2014 in South Africa was 1 057 600. The next highest was Germany, at 420 600 but Germany has decided to do something about it. What about South Africa?
“You must reach a point where you say it is enough. I personally believe we reached that stage years ago here in South Africa. This is the best reason to give in denying refugee status. I still don’t understand why our government is not seeking assistance from the AU and the Southern African Development Community, SADC.
“The issue of migration has tended to raise its head on all the European meetings among its member states. They have just received around a million people from the Middle East but have already taken action about that with the UK voting to take their future back to their hands leaving this European madness. The USA on the other has seen an unlikely rise to power of Donald Trump simply by using immigration as a card to the voter’s hearts.”
Makiele says Trump’s proposals on immigration was music to his ears.
“I could not believe it when he spoke about illegal Mexicans coming to the USA and the problems they bring with them. It was like he was talking about Zimbabweans in South Africa. He spoke about Mexicans committing crime and here it is the same thing with over 80% of farm attacks and other crimes believed to be committed by the Zimbos. The Nigerians competing against one another in bringing the most devastating drug you can contort. Donald Trump also mentions the fact that over 6 Billion dollars is sucked out of the US every year as remittances to Mexico both using formal and informal channels. This is also the case with the Zimbos who are doing the same by sending a reported 4 Billion as of 2015 as reported by FNB [a South African Bank].”
He praised Donald Trump who he says has decided to do something about this problem, while the ANC is so committed to open borders that the situation is “getting worse and worse”.
“No matter how big your job creation project is but because there are a large number of job seekers both South Africans and non-South Africans, there will never be enough. If on the other hand we do succeed in creating millions of jobs, those that are here legally will bring their relatives to come grab a seat on the gravy train. No matter how you look at, it brings you to the same conclusion that this is not going to help. The sooner we close our borders the better,” Makiele added.
“My solution: The department of Home Affairs must establish a committee that goes to all big companies checking the authenticity of their employees ID’s. those with fraudulent documents must be arrested and deported and the company fined for not taking all precautionary steps in making sure that they do the right thing. Kick-starting the border management unit that is said to be starting next year to start ASAP. This alone with result in a number of jobs opening up for South Africans.”
He says he is not someone trying to incite violence, but someone who is trying to find solutions. “It is only a matter of time that you find yourself unemployed while people from far away are working. Maybe then you will blame the global economic decline as the scape goat but believe me another xenophobic attack is coming,” he warned.
However, in a bid to tackle xenophobia and deal with the recent scourge of violent attacks on foreign nationals, the South African and Sudanese governments have launched the Sukara Heritage Society that aims to promote the heritage of both countries.
In 1962, Sudan hosted the late Nelson Mandela when he was drumming up support for the armed struggle against a white minority government.
It even granted him a diplomatic passport, making it possible for him to travel elsewhere in the world.
The initiative hopes to bridge the gap in cultural intolerance among Africans and “promote different cultures on the continent”.
