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| Hundeyo Abebe Erebalo stands outside his store in Freedom Park. Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng. |
It is inevitable that a government in power and the civilian
populace can disagree and sometimes fight when things are not working properly.
But should the service delivery demonstrations or other
disturbances all follow the all too familiar route of killing the foreign
trader and looting his goods?
It is not as if the ANC is out of touch with the predicament
of the foreigners. The issue is on the agenda for the ruling party and has been
discussed by the party branches, and migrant communities alike. It is only the
wording in the ANC discussion document on the road to Mangaung that worries.
Newspapers reported that the ANC was proposing a crackdown
on foreign-owned spaza shops in response to anger among local small businesses
over perceived unwelcome competition.
The party is proposing that non-South Africans should not
run spaza shops without adhering to “certain legislated prescripts” which by
themselves are no different from those applying to South Africans running spaza
shops.
But the question in the ANC document that has got analysts
and foreigners themselves worried is: “Should by-laws apply equally to both
foreigners and (bona fide) citizens?” The ANC argues that the renting of houses
by foreigners, and more specifically asylum seekers, from South Africans who
rent out their RDP houses, is in contravention of municipal by-laws.
The party thinks that: “…ideally municipalities should know
who lives and works and runs businesses in their area as well as their status”.
But then, is it a question of local municipalities managing
tensions between business people, or is the specific question who is running
what business to be classified as a business threat?
The ANC discussion document argues that because many asylum
seekers have taken advantage of the non-encampment policy – asylum seekers are
not housed in camps – it is now time for a risk-based approach and to take
“robust steps” against those who end up in South Africa after having crossed
through other safe countries, where they could have remained – in effect if
they so wanted to, open spaza shops, why don’t they do it elsewhere?
In other words, ANC thinkers are saying how did an asylum
seeker from Ethiopia – like Erebalo – arrive here in the first place, and were
there no safer countries between South Africa and Ethiopia?
“Those asylum seekers who present a high risk must be accommodated
(read detained) in a secure facility, until their status has been determined.
“The low risk asylum seekers will be processed while they
are assisted by various organizations.”
Migration in South Africa is, however, not the sole
responsibility of the state. It requires a broad societal response.
Civil society needs to step up to the plate. A specific role
exists for churches and religious groups, NGOs, justice departments and
academia to help in the humanitarian crises that arises from time to time among
the migrant communities.
A fundamental challenge to South Africans, however, is how
the wider society lives up to the Bill of Rights and the constitution in the
treatment and handling of migrants, and how they deal with immigration.
An important tenet of a democratic society is the equal
treatment of foreigners within its borders.
Otherwise democracy itself will be under threat if the
ruling party appears to blame the migrants for doing business in South African
townships.
How can one have a set of rules for some people, and a
completely different set of others for another?
No wonder angry South Africans can get away with killing
foreigners and looting their shops, as the man in the accompanying picture from
Ratanda is getting away with his loot. Ever heard of someone who went to jail
for that?
It is a test that South Africa is failing dismally, given
that some ANC leaders and councilors have been known to fuel xenophobic
tendencies by blaming foreigners for the problems being experienced in the
townships.
The rights of migrants, as enshrined in the constitution,
appear to have been sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.
As has been shown in previous editions of The Migrant
newspaper, migration, if properly managed, can be a boon for South Africa and
further enrich this already cosmopolitan rainbow nation. Time will tell.
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