In the last few weeks we have seen a rise of vigilantism, especially against foreign nationals. That should worry us. We should stop at nothing to ensure that this form of activism does not gain any political credibility as a tool to deal with crime.
At the same time we should identify, isolate and defeat its causes. Vigilantism is described (courtesy of Wikipedia) as the “act of enforcing the law and investigating and punishing offences and crimes without legal authority”.
The description may well be correct, but it is hopelessly inadequate to capture the images of bloodthirsty mobs often associated with such acts. However hard the protagonists of such acts may try to justify themselves, the notion that one is enforcing the law by breaking it easily collapses into gobbledygook.
What we have witnessed in our streets comes closer to that ignoble American practice of lynching – which Wikipedia aptly describes as “informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an extreme form of informal group social control, and it is often conducted with the display of a public spectacle (often in the form of a hanging) for maximum intimidation”.
Somehow we have easily airbrushed from memory the horrific image of Mozambican national Ernesto Nhamuave, who was burnt alive. The May 2008 xenophobic attacks that targeted mainly African and South Asian nationals, led to the deaths of 60 people. Estimates are that more than 100 000 were displaced in a matter of days.
How easily do we forget. This form of vigilantism is often associated with the irresistible urge to find a scapegoat for the seeming intractable challenges of poverty and unemployment.
A 2010 survey by the South African Migration Programme found, for instance, that up to “60% of South Africans believe immigrants ‘take jobs’, while 55% believe that they worsen crime”. Such sentiments are based on anecdotal evidence but do not represent the overall truth.
On the job front, the fault must be laid on the doorsteps of the employers. Foreign nationals are easy to exploit, the undocumented ones being subjected to the worst form of exploitation imaginable. While more research is still needed in this area, the work done so far does not support the notion that immigrants take jobs from South Africans.
Where this is the case, the effect is minuscule. If anything, immigration studies suggest that immigrants tend to create jobs for low-skilled categories. The situation is slightly different when it comes the more skilled categories. We have seen the variant of this at universities where historically white universities embarked on recruiting foreign nationals to beef up their black economic empowerment imperatives.
Sadly, some of the recruited foreign professionals have allowed themselves to become useful instruments to undermine local talent. It is precisely because of this that some are wary of the view now routinely advanced that immigration should be considered as one of the solutions to address the chronic skills shortage facing the country.
Had they had any choice in matters, many of them would jump on to the next ship and head home. But they know too well that home is another purgatory on Earth. Just like any community, immigrant ones are not made of just saints or demons.
Among the demons we can include drug lords that have destroyed many of our communities. Some have become brazen in undermining the country’s law enforcement agencies. The spectacle of foreigners attacking the police is unfortunately becoming too familiar. It feeds into the anti-immigrant sentiments.
This reality should not blind us to the fact there are many who are grateful to have been given a second chance in life. Still, they live precarious lives, unappreciated in their second home country.
Not a day passes without being reminded that they don’t belong. Their sin is to run from the economic devastation and degrading poverty brought about by the seeming unending wars and poor leadership in their countries.
With no expectation of support from the South African government, they have had little choice but to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Instead of “be-weeping their outcast state, and troubling deaf heaven with their bootless cries”, immigrants have seized the rich and great opportunities the country provides.
Stories abound about how many arrived here with nothing and just a few years later have managed to turn their misfortune around. Indeed, while our compatriots invest most of their time in complaining about the country’s failures, immigrants are entrepreneurial.
For many immigrants see South Africa as a land of milk and honey in a good sense. Their journeys and experiences are an important resource and a source of inspiration. They embody a never-say-die spirit which is lacking in our country.
The story of one of the country’s leading pulmonologists, Dr Emmanuel Taban, who had come to South Africa as a refugee, is a case in point. Dr Pali Lehohla, the former statistician-general, has done us a favour in capturing Dr Taban’s epic journey.
Lehohla writes: “Taban runs a medical practice at Midstream Hospital in Centurion. To imagine that he actually started uninterrupted schooling only at the age of 17 defies all logic. Rejected by his country and raised by the globe, his schooling has been interrupted by war and prison… His life story and journey on foot and hikes from Juba in South Sudan at the age of 15, to Khartoum, to Eritrea, to Ethiopia, to Kenya, to Tanzania, to Mozambique, through Zimbabwe and finally to South Africa at the age of 17 in search of education tortures your gut.”
I could not agree more with Lehohla’s concluding remarks that in our “search for a better world where human beings can start being human, Taban’s contribution is epic. Taban is a paragon of agency and content of purpose.” Dr Taban is not alone.
The story of a car guard who rose to become a doctor of the hospital attached to the parking lot where he first worked is one of those inspiring stories that proves that where there is a will, there is a way. Vigilantism should be seen for what it is.
It is a crime which by its very nature is uncontrollable. Attacking foreign nationals, illegal or not, is not going to solve the perennial problems of poverty, unemployment and inequality. If anything, vigilantism is a diversion.
* Seepe is the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Institutional Support, University of Zululand