GROUNDUP: Threats drive immigrant traders to abandon shops in Springs, Gauteng

Immigration Policy

Ebrahim Harvey | Published 14 minutes ago

DEEP down in our crisis-ridden society the political forces behind the unprecedented violent anti-immigrant national protests have been steadily germinating over a long period.

It is the socio-material context of arguably the worst Black poverty, unemployment and social inequalities in the post-apartheid period which was the catalyst that ignited those combustible protests across the length and breadth of South Africa.

It is this context which many commentators and analysts in the media have unfortunately not paid sufficient attention to in dealing with the migrant worker crisis. But it is only through such an approach that we can understand the conditions which gave rise to the unprecedented destructive violence, which often descended into sheer mob hysteria, with the terrible opportunistic looting of shops owned by foreigners.

This widespread orgy of wanton violence, the intensity of which has never been seen before since our watershed 1994 Uhuru nonracial and democratic elections, is the most poignant reminder that we are in fact facing a mortal and multifaceted crisis now fiercely demanding immediate government action and answers.

Naturally, if the Black working-class majority is now facing the worst poverty, joblessness and social inequalities crisis since 1994, competition with immigrant workers for jobs and various social services would be much greater.

Add to that the impacts of the neoliberal austerity budgets we have had for several years — which have further deepened poverty and available resources for various public services, such as health and education — and we have a generalised situation which will polarise relations between them.

In such a situation, the accumulated frustrations of struggling Black communities, with already high rates of unemployment and poverty, will cause them to hit out at migrant workers and small business traders, such as spaza shop operators.

But the overall situation has never been as bad as it is now. We also have the worst cost of living crisis in the post-apartheid period. Mass black hunger, malnutrition and the related stunted development of children are rampant across our society.

Levels of black poverty, unemployment and social inequalities are, in fact, worse today than they were under apartheid, as a direct result of the distinctly neoliberal policies which the African National Congress (ANC) has pursued since taking office in 1994. That is precisely why the ANC declined in the 2024 elections from 57% in 2019 to around 40% of the vote, and for the first time lost a national election.

For too long did the ANC allow the undocumented crisis to fester without a comprehensive programme of action to systematically and consistently root out the inefficiencies and corruption in the Home Affairs Department, arguably the biggest underlying causal factor.

It is clearly very complex, besides the fact that it coincided with the most intense and devastating socioeconomic crisis we have had since 1994. In fact, the existing socioeconomic crisis runs so deep and wide that the current waves of violence sweeping the country will be long discussed and debated.

There are several factors that have over a long period contributed to the outbreak of this tortuous crisis, which limited space does not allow me to fully unravel. But it strikes at the heart of the ‘miracle transition’ some mistakenly referred to in the 1990s.

Some might say that the terribly destructive violence of the past few weeks shows that the chickens have come home to roost. But nobody can be satisfied with the mob hysteria and mindless violence we have seen recently.

However, the biggest tragedy is the fact that different sections of the Black working class are at war with each other. It is very unlikely that spaza shops make a lot of money, with those operators probably living from hand to mouth.

Come to think of it, we are all in this country to a greater or lesser extent immigrants. All, I repeat. Slavery, colonisation and the settlers who came from various parts of the world since diamonds and gold were discovered in the 19 th century are all immigrants. There are probably people from every part of the world whose ancestors have been living in this country for very long.

But the South African people who have been very unhappy with undocumented immigrants who are either employed or operate spaza shops certainly have legitimate grievances, as they do with the selling of foodstuffs which have expired.

The serious problems which undocumented immigrants present to both the government and to ordinary South African citizens in several respects are indeed legitimate and urgently need to be addressed.

Capacity and resource constraints, especially within neoliberal austerity budgets, are another very big problem we face. For that tragic situation the ANC must take primary responsibility, which is probably partly why it lost power in the 2024 electio…