ANC’s orgy of xenophobia

One of the men arrested in the orgy of xenophobia triggered by a gang rape at a disused Krugersdorp mining site has been positively linked to the incident. When politicians are trying to bluff their way out of a self-created crisis, they won’t let facts get in their way.

Whipped up by politicians, the anger against foreigners needed an outlet. On cue, Police Minister Bheki Cele connected the rape to illegal miners, most of whom appear to be foreigners. The ANC is primarily to blame for these horrors.

Yet the same ANC summoned protesters to the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court, where the suspects were to appear. “Join the protest action against #illegal immigrants #zamazamas #rapists”, urged an ANC poster.

Legal journalist Franny Rabkin says: “The unspoken assumption in those words – that illegal immigrants and zama zamas are rapists – is staggering.” Guilt was declared by association and assumption in saturation media coverage.

Don’t expect it to result in convictions for rape. That would require policing skills beyond what Cele’s goons can offer. As Julian Rademeyer of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime points out:

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“It was a show of force for the cameras, but one that in isolation will have little long-term benefit for a community strangled by organised crime”. Yes, illegal mining is a problem. Yes, there are too many foreign nationals here without proper documentation. And yes, they include criminals, perhaps also rapists.

But how did we get here? Who has been in charge of this country for 28 years? The ANC. Cadres deployed by the ANC have rendered the South Africa Police “Service” incapable of upholding law and order, even if they wanted to, which is sometimes debatable.

Action Society’s Ian Cameron, famous for his verbal sparring with Cele, knows where blame lies: “What’s happening … with communities removing #ZamaZamas themselves, would never have happened if the criminal justice system worked.

“The ANC can’t blame the people for a catastrophe the ANC created.” In common with all government departments and state-owned entities run by ANC cadres, home affairs is incompetent and corrupt.

I know from experience that some immigrants are rendered “illegal”, in the sense of not having correct documentation, because of home affairs incompetence. Home affairs officials bungle valid applications and then seek illicit rewards to get them back on track. Our borders are porous because they are not properly policed or fenced.

ANC-appointed Minister Patricia de Lille made a shambles of the expensive Beitbridge border fence, amid allegations of corruption. No significant ANC-linked contracts happen without corruption.

As former president Kgalema Motlanthe told the Financial Mail in 2007 when he was ANC secretary-general: “Almost every project is conceived because it offers opportunities for certain people to make money.”

In Women’s Month, the gang rape has legitimately overshadowed the accompanying dangerous escalation in xenophobia. And let us not forget that corruption – of the Saps, home affairs and much else – creates a breeding ground for these evils. A gloomy picture indeed. To change it, we must vote out the ANC.