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Foreigners have become scapegoats for our faults
The idea that job opportunities are lost to South Africans because of the presence of foreigners is in itself an argument without merit.
Migrants from several African countries have been camping outside the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for just under a month. Aline Bukuru from DRC told News24 that refugees from several African countries had decided to camp outside the UNHCR offices due to ongoing xenophobia and the threat thereof in South Africa. An urgent court application to remove refugees has been postponed by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to 13 November. On Wednesday, the heard that the parties cited in an application by the do not agree with their draft order. The home associations, Waterkloof Homeowners’ Association and Brooklyn and Eastern Areas Citizens’ Association, representing residents in the two upmarket suburbs have approached the court seeking to prohibit the refugees from staging a sit-in. (Photo by Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)
As a growing country, no matter the slowness in development, possibly even a regression, we must be mindful that South Africa is no island.
Every time the country has a xenophobic flare-up, our reactionary government goes through great pains to convince not only South Africans but the rest of the gawking world that these are acts of criminality.
The idea that job opportunities are lost to South Africans because of the presence of foreigners is in itself an argument without merit, and yet our government has failed to put it into clearer context.
The truth is that, on our work ethic front, South Africans are not willing to start at the bottom and work their way up.
South Africans are not willing to sweep the streets before becoming a controller of the street sweeping department.
For them, their rite of passage starts with walking into an air-conditioned corner office.
The government talks repeatedly of good neighbourly relations, but when the tide turns for political points at home, the very same government refuses to take any further strain under the burden of undocumented and illegal immigrants.
The economy is obviously bad, but the timing of the government’s admission is nothing short of dubious.
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It was first brought to our attention in a massive way in 2008, already eleven years ago… the nerve of us to feign horror and shock.
Where have the government initiatives been to engage with the perpetrators of these acts of criminality? We send in law enforcement who cannot and should not approach the situation with emotion… leaving hundreds displaced.
Foreigners are made to be sacrificial lambs, made to carry the blame for every shortcoming the country faces. We cannot identify and quantify their costs to the economy, yet they automatically become the reason our country is failing.
The rampant corruption, looting by government, and the idea that once entry is gained to the public purse one must enrich yourself and family – how are these not bigger reasons for our failings?
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