SPAZA SHOPS

A PLEA FOR PEACE HOW CAN UBUNTU AND XENOPHOBIA EXIST SIDE BY SIDE?foreigners”, combining the Greek xenos

Sincluding foreign nationals as well if (foreign) with phobos (fear). In South paza shops run by foreigners they attack citizens,” he said. Africa, we’ve come to understand it as are being targeted again, and the often violent dislike of foreigners, the government is so concerned He said the government would help the “makwerekwere”. about this development that refugees and asylum seekers in terms

President Jacob Zuma has assigned of international law and the Unfortunately, violence is not restricted three ministers to attend to xenophobic country’s Constitution. to the so-called xenophobic hotspots, attacks in KwaZulu-Natal. where localised competition for political

The attacks, which started in Isipingo on March 25, spread to other areas around Durban, including Chatsworth and Umlazi. and economic power is a trigger for violence. It is not unique to Diepsloot or Sebokeng. The vast majority of South Africans may not be driving out Somalis from their neighbourhoods,

Ethiopian Tescma Marcus (22) but xenophobic attitudes are more died after suffering third degree pervasive than many are ready to burns when his spaza shop in admit.

Umlazi township outside Durban was set alight. He had been in South Africa for only According to the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in four months. SA, attacks on foreigners have continued, with national statistics

His brother Alex, 24, was also showing that, in 2011, one person a burnt when a mob locked them week, on average, was killed, while inside the container in which they 100 were seriously injured and over had set up their shop and torched it. 1,000 were displaced.

More police officers have since been Foreigners were particularly targeted sent to the area. during service delivery protests.

Zuma said all spheres of government had been directed to enforce laws and by-laws to curb illegal trading and stop the spread of unlicensed shops. Xenophobia is something that affects all of us. The human misery it causes knows no bounds. In January, about 1 000 foreign-owned Scalabrini Centre outreach manager Sergio Carciotto said that about 200 foreigners had been killed in South Africa last year through common crime and xenophobic violence.

“We urge citizens to allow government to attend to these and other immigration challenges and to not take the law into their own hands,” he said. He called on South Africans to remember that not all foreign nationals shops were damaged and looted during a spate of attacks on foreign traders in Soweto and Kagiso. These attacks are pushing South African onto the international news agenda for all the wrong reasons. In the first edition of New South African Review, Loren Landau, Tara Polzer and Aurelia Wa Kabwe-Segatti quote research by the Forced Migration Studies Programme in areas where group-based violence against foreigners has were in the country illegally, and that Six people, including one-month-old taken place: many contributed to the economy. baby Ngqobile Majozi, and Siphiwe Mahori, 14, died during the week- “First, there is a lack of trusted and

“We reiterate that there can be no long violence. effective conflict resolution mechanisms justification for attacking foreign within these locations. nationals. Those who are in the country Police have confirmed that more than illegally should be reported to the 200 people were arrested, 80 are now “Second, there is a culture of impunity police and they will be returned to their out on bail, nine were released on that makes people who attack foreign countries of origin in a lawful manner,” warning because they are minors and nationals feel that there will be no

Zuma said. the rest remain in custody until their negative consequences for them. next court appearance. But shockingly,

“Citizens should also provide several of the key instigators, some of “Finally, there is a political vacuum or information to the police if they know those seen driving from shop to shop competition for community leadership of foreign nationals who are engaged with tools used to break in were still so that unofficial, illegitimate and often in criminal activities. They should not walking the streets. violent forms of leadership emerge. Such be attacked. We wish to emphasise leaders then mobilise residents of the that police will also take action against Most dictionaries agree on a definition area against foreign nationals in order to all people who engage in violence, of “xenophobia” as a “hatred or fear of strengthen their own power base.”