Last month, President Thabo Mbeki was forced to call in the
military to help the police restore order in townships across South
Africa. A wave of xenophobic violence left 50 dead. Though the mob
mostly targeted illegal immigrants from other parts of Africa, it
also went after some economically successful South African
minorities. It would be a tragedy if the ethnic violence fueled by
rising poverty and desperation destroyed South Africa in the same
way it has destroyed so many other African countries.
Much of the global media attributed the South African clashes to
the deplorable situation in Zimbabwe. The economic collapse of that
country resulted in a flight of some 3 million of its most
enterprising people to South Africa. Zimbabwe’s implosion is in
part a result of the massive failure of Mbeki’s “quiet diplomacy.”
Mbeki claims there is “no crisis” in Zimbabwe, a statement for
which he has been roundly criticized, and unfortunately, his notion
of racial solidarity prevents him from speaking out against the
rule of Robert Mugabe.
The situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating even further thanks
to its ZANU-PF government, which is brutalizing known supporters of
the MDC opposition. Mugabe hopes that by intimidating the
population, he may yet “win” the second round of the presidential
election and cling to power.
Some instigators of violence against African immigrants claim
that the latter steal jobs that should go to native South Africans.
That is a debatable proposition. Over the last decade and half, the
ANC government has focused primarily on the redistribution of the
existing economic pie, rather than increasing it in size. As the
country’s population grew to some 50 million, the unemployment rate
grew to maybe as much as 40 percent.
Absolute poverty rose as well. According to the South African
Institute of Race Relations, “The number of people living on less
than $1 per day (the measure of extreme poverty used by the World
Bank) in South Africa, increased from 1.89 million in 1996 to 4.2
million in 2005. As a proportion of the population, this represents
an increase from 4.5 percent to 8.8 percent of the population.”
Lamentably, much of the labor force is unemployable due to
deteriorating educational standards, an inappropriately strict
labor code, and a misguidedly high minimum wage. The recent
electricity shortages that cut the GDP growth rate to its lowest in
six years have not helped. All in all, many foreigners have found
employment because of their superior skills and readiness to work
for lower wages, not because they “stole” jobs from qualified and
willing locals.
South Africa’s high unemployment rate and the concomitant
desperation of millions of fellow citizens is a self-inflicted
wound. Similarly, the tensions between native South Africans and
illegal immigrants in the townships must be blamed partly on the
failure of Mbeki’s policy toward Zimbabwe.
BUT MBEKI’S FAILURES could yet result in consequences reaching far
beyond the despicable attacks on South Africa’s hapless immigrants.
Newspaper reports suggest that some of the mob violence was
directed against certain black South Africans, especially Shangaans
and Venda. Both ethnic groups have traditionally been associated
with higher levels of economic success than the rest of South
Africa’s black population.
History is full of examples of ethnic violence against
economically successful groups. The Chinese in Malaysia and the
Indians in East Africa are just two of many minorities that
suffered repression or worse at the hands of their less wealthy but
numerically superior neighbors.
It is, of course, naive to expect that unscrupulous businessmen
in the townships will heed calls for decency and refrain from
channeling the xenophobia of some of their countrymen into
accomplishing their objective of driving out their economic
competitors. The sad reality is that as long as South African
economic growth remains relatively low, tensions in the country
will persist and may even grow.
President Mbeki, who presided over South Africa’s slide into a
moral and economic morass, is a lame duck. He was replaced by Jacob
Zuma as the ANC leader during the ANC’s conference at Polokwane a
few months ago. Having reduced South Africa’s Parliament to a
rubber stamp institution, Mbeki now has to watch as Zuma and his
followers run the country from the ANC headquarters in the Lithuli
House. Mbeki should heed the growing calls for his resignation and
bow out. He has no future in politics.
