The March and March Movement says it will intensify its weekly demonstrations following the death of Gauteng leader Andile Mvuyelwa Somgada.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo | ANA Studio
OVER the past few weeks, I have watched many social media videos which painfully painted a picture of naked xenophobia in impoverished Black townships in various parts of the country, but especially in Johannesburg and Durban.
I have seen foreign nationals being violently confronted and manhandled at their homes by vigilantes, demanding to see their documents.
Vigilantes are private and ordinary individuals who unlawfully take the law into their own hands, attempting to prevent, investigate or punish perceived offenders. They usually act independently or in groups without any legal authority.
Some of these instances were very violently executed, which included breaking locks and doors. Naked aggression was often on display, with the targeted individuals often screaming with fear, sometimes in the presence of terrified parents and children.
What I have briefly described is the naked terror of vigilantism, often on display in many black townships, sometimes in the presence of policemen. Many were violently thrown into police vans, with no attempts by the police to restrain them.
While I have consistently supported the necessity to deal with undocumented and therefore illegal migration, I have as consistently stood resolutely opposed to any form of violence.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has several times appealed to South Africans to refrain from using violence and urged that nobody must be subjected to any violence by taking the law into their own hands. But violence is used daily across the country. His pleas have tragically fallen on deaf ears.
Is something inexplicable happening before our eyes to account for this seemingly widespread xenophobic violence and terrible looting of the shops of migrants? How do we explain it to ourselves, others and our children?
On the other hand, March and March, which has become the most prominent organisation in the country calling for tough action against unlawful migration, also appealed to its supporters not to take the law into their own hands.
But the xenophobic or Afrophobic violence continues daily. Or has the anti-immigrant violence gained an irrational momentum which only listens to itself and is hateful of all foreigners?
I say "all foreigners" because the mob justice in Black townships often does not draw a distinction between documented and undocumented foreigners. It is at this point that it often appears as if all immigrants are being targeted and not only those who are undocumented and here unlawfully.
My sense is that there are indeed and tragically many South Africans who fall into this category and who are so frustrated with their worsening socioeconomic conditions of poverty, unemployment and inequalities that they want all foreigners, including those who are properly documented, to leave South Africa.
This is by far our biggest tragedy: Those Black South Africans who are demanding that all immigrants leave the country. But this is a completely unacceptable situation because it would be totally against our constitution and therefore itself be unlawful.
As I stated recently, the primary responsibility for this terrible crisis is the South African government and, in fact, the African National Congress (ANC) in particular. After all, they ruled this country until they lost political power in the 2024 elections.
But we cannot continue to hold the ANC responsible, especially when Ramaphosa has conceded that not enough was done to deal with undocumented migrants in the country. On the other hand, more than 40 0000 unlawful migrants were deported over the past few weeks, which the Home Affairs department has confirmed.
However, so big was this problem that despite those efforts a huge number of people remain undocumented. But we need to now move on, especially since it is very clear that the current government of national unity and the Home Affairs Department are indeed very preoccupied with dealing with this problem.
But these administrative backlogs, especially amid a lack of resources and the effects of corruption over many years, is going to considerably delay the process. While huge progress has been made, this reality must be understood and appreciated, especially by March and March and Operation Dudula.
If not, we will have an untenable situation, which is going to inevitably play into the hands of agent provocateurs, especially if indeed it is true that there are internal or external forces who are keen to stoke a fire which already sometimes appears out of control.
That fire is the movement in Black townships which are often relentlessly calling for all migrants, documented or undocumented, to leave South Africa. All progressive and revolutionary forces are compelled to unite and throw their weight behind attempts to convince those who are hellbent on having even documented migrants forcibly removed that they are wrong.
I return to this matter because it is going to be by far the most important task facing an already deeply crisis-ridden society. If this is not done, we are going to plunge South Africa into a much deeper crisis, which is going to imperil even the limited important democratic gains we have made since 1994.
This matter must not be forgotten, especially since it is possible indeed that a deepening and worsening crisis in this country carries the risk of eroding the democratic gains we have made.
I certainly believe that the current immigrant crisis has already cascaded so much that all the important democratic gains we have made since 1994 can be rolled back if we don’t constructively and reasonably deal with those who are demanding that all immigrants, including those properly documented, must leave this country.
This is a very worrying and dangerous phenomenon, which is vividly evident over the past few weeks: the vociferous demand by many protesters that all migrants must leave this country immediately. The Sunday Times last week also drew attention to this very serious problem.
This country is going to go up in flames if more people repeat this very unreasonable demand in Black townships. Sometimes I wonder if the government waited too long to take these matters of undocumented migrants more seriously.
However, our collective task is to change the minds of these people, wherever they might be. The leader of March and March, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, must herself be seized by this task.
If we fail to deal with this critically important task and the already very dangerous situation of vigilante mob justice in many Black townships continues, we will probably thereby endanger those democratic gains. To think that we don’t face such a risk if this task is not soon addressed would be extremely politically naïve.
This constitutional democracy is already facing its biggest crisis in post-apartheid South Africa. The country is already a tinder keg and very delicately poised at this crisis-ridden conjuncture, but conditions in the Black townships especially could deteriorate further.
Right now, the immigrant crisis lies at the heart of a much wider and deeper crisis. It is a crisis brought about by capitalist neoliberalism, of which austerity budgets are the hallmark.
It is the worsening socioeconomic crisis, especially raging unemployment, poverty and inequalities, which has created a very combustible situation in Black townships.
The ANC, under the direct and indirect influence and persuasion of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), is largely responsible for the neoliberal policies which have dominated this country since 1994.
In fact, even the migrant crisis I can explain is in the final analysis rooted in neoliberal policy choices. But that for another time.
* Dr Ebrahim Harvey is a political writer, analyst, and commentator.
** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL.