Local Politicians & Labour Brokers Inciting Xenophobia Over Scarce Resources

Facing the future: A S. African mother and child in the Stofland informal settlement in De Doorns, following Xenophobic attacks in November 2009. [David Harrison]

On 28 November 2009, Vice President Motlanthe blamed farmers for farm murders:

“Some of the most brutal farm murders are committed by foreign nationals, who were brutally exploited and made to toil without any remuneration. The day when they demand remuneration, they are reported (by farmers) to the law enforcement units and are duly arrested and are sent back to their countries of origin.

“Of course, they come back and they go back and commit the most horrendous murders. This is why we need to condemn those who take advantage of foreign nationals in this fashion,” he said.

But according to a report by Jean Pierre Misago, a researcher with the Migrant Rights Monitoring Project, released on 17 December 2009:

There is a wide-spread belief among South African residents of De Doorns that Zimbabweans work for lower wages. This is despite farmers and Zimbabwean workers themselves reporting that all seasonal workers get the same wages: they work for R60 per day.

Furthermore Misago adds a new -- local politicians fueling xenophobia for self interested motivations -- twist to his investigations of the De Doorns Xenophobic Violence story:

Some respondents report that dissatisfied labour brokers pressured local leaders and incited local residents to attack and chase Zimbabweans away. Such mobilisation was facilitated by the fact that some contractors are also ward committee members.

Violence, Labour and the Displacement of Zimbabweans in De Doorns, Western Cape (PDF). Authors: Jean Pierre Misago. Publication date: December, 2009; conducted by Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at the University of the Witwatersrand

Misago further reports on the self interested motivations of local De Doorns councillors, some of whom are also farm working contractors, whom may have stoked the Xenophobic violence:

A number of respondents offered two reasons for their belief that the councillor and ward committee members were involved in organising the violence:

1. the councillor reportedly gave in to demands by a powerful pressure group
   (contractors) in order to protect his position during the upcoming local elections;
   
2. some ward committee members have interests in protecting their jobs as
   contractors.

Respondents accuse the Mayor of complicity by omission, mainly because he knew that the attacks were being planned (he attended the meetings) but did nothing to prevent or stop them before or when they started.

Misago concludes that his investigations do not “constitute conclusive evidence of incitement to violence.” However, “it suggests that the investigation into the role of labour brokers should not be limited to the exploitation of workers and the breaking of labour laws. Instead, it must also focus on labour brokers’ direct involvement in fuelling tensions and triggering the violence by inciting local residents.”

What else are some of the factors contributing to South African citizens addiction to resolving all their problems with violence?

The symptoms of overpopulation colliding with finite or scarce resources (ecological overshoot resource wars) include: energy depletion, food shortages, species extinction, politically correct fascism, Immigration and emigration racism and xenophobia, terrorism, starvation, poverty, disease, crime, economic & political instability, pain and misery... [Population Policy Common Sense (PDF)]

According to Loren Landau, chairperson of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa's (Cormsa) executive committee, one of the factors contributing to the xenophobic violence, is that it is quite simply the results of ecological overshoot, a local war over resources. Put differently: a consequence of overpopulation colliding with scarce resources:

The current downturn in economies worldwide may increase tension between locals and foreigners as the availability of resources tighten ....... There will also be less resources for government to meet expectations and foreigners will be blamed for this," he said.

Why will there be less resources? Well because certain resources are finite, and accordingly there are less resources, when there are more people demanding a piece of the finite resource pie.

According to Professor Abebe Zageye, Xenophobia is 'excluded from South Africa's dialogue on racism', and furthermore the 2008 xenophobic attacks did not occur spontaneously, but were rather “systematic and well organized.”

The policies to deliberately and intentionally allow for millions of foreigners to cross into South Africa's borders, are certainly “systematic and well organized.” Furthermore the policies of the South African goverment to pay poor people welfare grants for every poor child they breed, are also not spontaneous, but rather “systematic and well organized.”

He did not discuss or enquire into whether the reason xenophobia is excluded from the dialogue on racism, is as a result of systemic and well organized intentions to keep it that way, for reasons of self interest, on the parts of local and national politicians.

Zageye said he believed the xenophobic attacks last year were not spontaneous but were rather "systematic and well organised".

Labour brokers fingered in De Doorns xenophobia report

Mail & Guardian
Dec 17 2009 15:12

Flattened: A child is pictured among the ruins of a house pulled down by angry farmworkers in De Doorns on Tuesday. Xenophobic attacks in the area have displaced about 2 500 Zimbabwean farmworkers as locals claim they're taking their jobs away. [David Harrison, M&G Gallery]

Labour brokers may have been directly responsible for the tensions that led to last month's xenophobia at De Doorns in the Western Cape, a study has suggested.

The study, by researcher Jean Pierre Misago of the University of the Witwatersrand's Forced Migration Studies Programme, was released on Thursday.

Misago said Zimbabwean victims of the violence reported that the xenophobia was the culmination of long-standing tensions between Zimbabwean and South African labour brokers, known locally as contractors, or "spanners".

Violence, Labour and the Displacement of Zimbabweans in De Doorns, Western Cape, by Jean Pierre Misago (PDF)

He said there were as many as 80 labour brokers in the area, supplying local farmers with workers at a cost to each labourer of R5 a day, plus commissions from the farmers.

"South African contractors, particularly those from the Xhosa community, report dissatisfaction at income losses due to Zimbabwean contractors," Misago said. "Some [people interviewed] report that dissatisfied labour brokers pressured local leaders and incited local residents to attack and chase Zimbabweans away.

Violence, Labour and the Displacement of Zimbabweans in De Doorns, Western Cape, by Jean Pierre Misago (PDF)

"Such mobilisation was facilitated by the fact that some contractors are also ward committee members."

Misago said what he was told did not provide conclusive evidence of incitement to violence.

But it suggested that any investigation into labour brokers' role in the xenophobia should not be limited to exploitation of workers and the breaking of labour laws.

"It must also focus on labour brokers' direct involvement in fuelling tensions and triggering the violence by inciting local residents," he said.

Violence, Labour and the Displacement of Zimbabweans in De Doorns, Western Cape, by Jean Pierre Misago (PDF)

Referring to locals' complaints that Zimbabweans were "stealing jobs", he said that according to Agri Wes-Cape there were so many jobs at harvest time that farmers even had to recruit workers from other towns.

Local South Africans occupied most seasonal jobs and almost all the better-paid permanent farmworker positions.

And though the South Africans believed the Zimbabweans worked for lower wages, farmers and the Zimbabweans themselves said everyone worked for the same seasonal wage of R60 a day.

Misago said those who proposed to reintegrate the displaced Zimbabweans into the communities they came from were ignoring clear messages from South African residents and contractors that they did not want Zimbabweans back in the settlements.

Community-level action should therefore focus not on reintegration, but on "building sustained mechanisms for inclusive and non-violent conflict resolution".

De Doorns is a grape-growing centre in the Hex River Valley.

Violence, Labour and the Displacement of Zimbabweans in De Doorns, Western Cape, by Jean Pierre Misago (PDF)

Last month about 3 000 Zimbabweans fled shack settlements in the area after being threatened with violence by locals.

They have been living in tents on a sports field in the town.

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said at the end of November that the government would investigate the conduct of farmers and labour brokers.

"We are dealing with a problem caused by the exploitation of migrant workers by both labour brokers and farmers in the affected province," he said. -- Sapa

» » » » [M&G: Labour Brokers Fingered in De Doorn (PDF)]
» » [Forced Migration Studies: Program :: Jean Pierre Misago (Report PDF)]

Xenophobia 'excluded from dialogue on racism'

Mail & Guardian
Jun 18 2009 14:51

Racism against black foreigners from African countries is often excluded from discourse about racism in South Africa, the First Apartheid Archive Conference heard on Thursday.

"... in the studies of racism in South Africa what is often given lip service and sometimes completely left out is the racism that the black foreigners from African countries who migrated and continue to move into South Africa experience and continue to experience.

"Most of the black foreigners pejoratively described as makwerekwere, have made South Africa their home and yet they continue to experience racism," professor Abebe Zageye told the conference in Johannesburg.

Zageye said racism against foreigners in South Africa was articulated in complex ways, for example, foreigners working on farms were paid less.

However, the most visible expression of racism of this sort was the xenophobic attacks of 2008.

Zageye presented a paper to the conference in which he argued that xenophobia was "an expression of embedded South African racism in the past and the present" which did not affect white people.

This was the reason it was necessary to archive xenophobia as racism.

The conference -- hosted by the school of human and community development and the faculty of humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand -- formed part of the apartheid archive project.

Under the theme "facing the apartheid archives", the conference was the first step toward "remembering the past and interrogating its continued effects on current South African society".

Zageye said he believed the xenophobic attacks last year were not spontaneous but were rather "systematic and well organised".

However, at the end of his talk he said South Africa was making strides in eradicating xenophobia, adding that for the first time a Zambian-born person was now a member of the South African Parliament. -- Sapa

» » » » [M&G: Xenophobia Excluded from SA Racism Dialogue (PDF)]
» » [Forced Migration Studies: Program :: Jean Pierre Misago (Report PDF)]

Economic downturn could worsen xenophobia, says NGO

May 12 2009 17:38
Mail & Guardian

“So intimidating have the comrades become that in many parts of South Africa they can terrify township residents simply by holding up boxes of matches. When they are not carrying out spontaneous attacks, they may hold kangaroo "people's courts" that are designed to intimidate the public. In a typical court session, young toughs drag the accused forward, inform him or her of the charges and then pronounce and execute the sentence. The outcome is never in doubt.” [MobJustice Tribal Xenophobia: Blacks v Blacks]

The current downturn in economies worldwide may increase tension between locals and foreigners as the availability of resources tighten, an NGO said on Tuesday.

According to Loren Landau, chairperson of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa's (Cormsa) executive committee, the country has regressed in its bid to promote harmonious relations between locals and foreigners residing within its borders.

"If anything, we have gone back," he said, adding that little had been done by authorities to get to the cause of the problem.

"There has been no systematic investigation, authorities are doing very little ... the Human Rights Commission has delayed its inquiry," Landau said.

Cormsa believes the attacks were initiated by local leaders in each of the areas it occurred, mainly for economic gain.

Landau said President Jacob Zuma had taken office at a precarious time, given the global economic scenario.

The 8th UASA SA Employment Report released earlier this month indicated that the global downturn could result in the loss of about 300 000 jobs in South Africa.

In the motor industry, outside of manufacturing, 37 000 jobs were lost in 2008.

In the first three months of this year, the number of people out of work rose to 4,184-million from 3,87-million previously, the survey found.

Landau said that against this economic backdrop, the likelihood of a resurgence of the violence seen last year was increased.

"There will also be less resources for government to meet expectations and foreigners will be blamed for this," he said.

Director of Economists.co.za Mike Schussler agreed that the rocky economic climate could create tension between locals and foreigners.

"We are the richest country in the region ... the amount of jobs, social security, makes it quite a big attraction to people ... it will attract people in this downward phase of the economic cycle," he said.

"At the same time our people will be feeling the pressure of job losses which may increase the risk of tension."

An example of the terror of Xenophobia (Tribal Racism & Mob Justice) in South Africa: 35-year-old Mozambican national, Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave, was doused with petrol and burnt alive (necklaced) by a mob at the Ramaphosa informal settlement in Reiger Park, in 2008. [See: ANC's Occult “Struggle” Politics: Witchcraft and the State in South Africa for ethno-cultural ideological roots of necklacing.]

A year ago 62 people were killed and thousands of foreigners were displaced during a wave of xenophobic attacks across the country.

The grisly image of 35-year-old Mozambican national, Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave, who was doused with petrol and burnt alive by a mob at the Ramaphosa informal settlement in Reiger Park, became a symbol for the horror faced by foreign nationals during the attacks.

The first incident occurred in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, when an angry mob shot and killed one person and injured about 30 on May 11 last year.

Chichi Richard from the Coalition Against Xenophobia believed the tension between locals and foreigners remained in areas other than those which came under the spotlight during the xenophobic attacks last year.

He cited Hillbrow in Johannesburg as an example.

"The attacks didn't take place in Hillbrow but there are serious tensions there," he said. -- Sapa

» » » » [M&G: Economic Downturn Could Worsen Xenophobia (PDF)]
» » [Forced Migration Studies: Program :: Jean Pierre Misago (Report PDF)]