South Africa on the brink of ‘explosive violence’ against foreigners, UN experts warn

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After months of mobilization by vigilante groups, South Africa is on the brink of an explosion of violence against foreign migrants and refugees, a United Nations group has warned.

Escalating hate speech and arson attacks are early signs of a dangerous campaign of anti-foreigner violence, fuelled by politicians and high-ranking officials who use migrants as the scapegoats for South Africa’s problems, the group of independent UN human rights experts said.

Dozens of foreigners were killed in South Africa in earlier eruptions of violence in 2008 and 2015, but human rights groups are worried that future violence could be worse, since a growing number of politicians are openly fuelling the anti-migrant mood at a time of rising unemployment, sharp inequality and slow economic growth.

“Anti-migrant discourse from senior government officials has fanned the flames of violence, and government actors have failed to prevent further violence or hold perpetrators accountable,” the UN experts said in a statement on Friday.

“We are deeply concerned that the country is on the precipice of explosive violence.”

The UN group cited two attacks that have sparked widespread alarm in South Africa: the death of a Zimbabwean migrant who was beaten and set on fire by a mob that demanded identity documents from residents in a Johannesburg neighbourhood in April; and an arson attack against Congolese food sellers and other Africans in a Johannesburg market last month.

In the days before the arson attack, a vigilante group called Operation Dudula had twice visited the market to demand that foreigners abandon their food stalls and be replaced by South Africans, local media reported. When the vendors refused to leave, 23 of their food stalls were destroyed by fire.

Operation Dudula emerged last year in Soweto, a township of Johannesburg, where it held its first street marches against foreigners whom it accused of criminal activities or taking jobs from South Africans. Since then, it has expanded nationally, becoming the most prominent of the vigilante groups. Its name, dudula, means “push back” or “force out” in the Zulu language – an indication of its attitude to foreign migrants.

Its leaders say it is merely opposed to illegal migration, but critics say Operation Dudula has often used violence or intimidation against foreign shopkeepers and other migrants.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described Operation Dudula as a vigilante-like organization that uses illegal violence against foreigners. But other officials and prominent politicians have often supported the anti-foreigner movement with incendiary comments and misinformation.

South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, is responsible for some of the most virulent attacks on undocumented foreigners. “We can no longer allow our country to be the stomping ground for all the rascals and low-lives of the world running here and using our democracy,” he told a regional meeting of the ruling African National Congress.

“I am coming for them. When all of them are in jail, locked up, and the keys have been thrown away, then I will step down – only then.”

The undocumented status of foreigners in South Africa is often due to mismanagement and corruption in the country’s immigration and refugee offices, where long queues and massive backlogs can make it almost impossible for migrants to get the legal documents they need, according to analysts who study the South African system.

“Discrimination against foreign nationals in South Africa has been institutionalized both in government policy and broader South African society,” the UN experts said in their statement.

As many as 180,000 Zimbabweans could be expelled from South Africa by the end of this year, since the government has announced it will refuse to renew a special visa category that was created for Zimbabweans after large numbers fled from political persecution more than a decade ago.

With unemployment at record levels and the economy stagnating, several of South Africa’s fastest-growing opposition parties have adopted anti-foreigner rhetoric as a weapon in their political arsenal. Some have marched on restaurants and other workplaces, demanding proof that their foreign workers have legal documents.

Leaders of these parties have often exaggerated the number of foreigners in the country or the labour market, despite research showing that migrants hold only 10 to 12 per cent of jobs in the restaurant and construction sectors where they most commonly work. Studies also show that migrants in South Africa, on balance, are creating jobs and contributing to economic growth.

Vigilante groups often accuse foreigners of drug-dealing and other crimes, although there is no evidence that migrants are committing crime at a higher rate than South Africans – and migrants are frequently the victims of crime themselves. From 2018 until April this year, more than 3,000 foreign nationals were murdered in South Africa and about 3,600 were victims of attempted murder, according to a report by SABC, the public broadcaster, citing parliamentary information.

The Institute for Security Studies, an Africa-based think tank, says the anti-foreigner vigilante groups are becoming more organized this year, adopting official names, branding, merchandising and leadership structures.

Several recent attacks against foreigners around Johannesburg “could be the precursor of more widespread violence across the country if community vigilante groups are not reined in by law enforcement,” the institute said in a report last month.

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