The blogosphere is dominated by the “xenophobic attacks” against foreigners in South Africa [mainly Johannesburg, but other cities have also experience violence in the past 6 months]

Turista Africana

Turista Africana a Kenyan academic living in Johannesburg has written two of the most comprehensive pieces on the violence in the past couple of days.
In the latest post she covers the radio discussions with comments ranging from those cheering on the mob violence to those who believe in Ubuntu and love “all Africans”. Comments also from foreigners and businesses - one woman was asked if they hire foreigners! (presuming they did they would become targets?)
“Many good solutions and places to start are articulated in the course of these radio discussions (mostly education, education, education, and raising of self-esteem). I wonder if those responsible for social development in government are listening (to radio with notebook and pen handy)? Probably not. Because, on this continent, government will not bring the solutions we seek. We need to come up with new models of problem solving. I know many Kenyans were busy quoting how decentralization has helped South Africa. All policies look great on paper. The rub is in their implementation. Right now, all South African provinces are not equal. Some are paying more attention to development than others which are busy making corruption their mainstay. Give it another 10 years of this trend and you’ll have a right proper ethnic situation, and how it develops will be determined by how this current situation is handled.”

Groogle
http://groogle.co.za/2008/05/18/does-burning-an-alive-human-being-constitute-a-crisis-thabo/

Groogle asks Thabo Mbeki whether burning people alive constitutes a crisis – a comment on what he views as Mbeki’s “denialism” both on Zimbabwe and the state of South Africa and writes.....
“I am ashamed to be associated with this image. I am ashamed that there are people out there with no sense of humanity. I am ashamed, I am angry; I am actually fucking pissed off! This image better be a wake-up call to the South African government, to our very own president, who has so far left his people in the lurch, and has left those fleeing from his quiet diplomacy to burn in hell, literally!”

Nigeria, What’s New
http://nigeriawhatisnew.blogspot.com/2008/05/violence-against-immigrants-south.html

Nigeria, What’s New wonders what happened to the “my brother’s keeper” tradition that is supposedly part of “all Africa”? He goes on to say that immigrants have become the scapegoats of all South Africa’s problems...
“Its high rate of unemployment, a shortage of housing and one of the worst levels of crime in the world. But then again this is not new. In 1983, Alhaji Shehu Shagari's government expelled more than one million foreigners, mostly Ghanaians, saying they had overstayed their visas and were taking jobs from Nigerians. History repeating!”

African Loft
http://www.africanloft.com/south-africans-burn-the-welcome-mat/

The xenophobia in South Africa is well documented and no African foreigner who has visited or lived there comes away without experiencing it first hand. However when presented with a historical list of events on which anti foreign violence took place in post independence South Africa, the violence seems even more disturbing.

Black Looks
http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/05/more_thoughts_on_anti-immigraton_violence_.html

Black Looks tries to go beyond the violence by dwelling on the fragility of South African society and the failure of the post apartheid government to meet the expectations of the masses. This does not in anyway justify the violence but does put it in a global context of poverty and social injustice.
“The reasons given by indigenous people for their dislike of immigrants is the same whether in South Africa, Britain, France or the US. They are taking our jobs, our women, they are responsible for increases in the crime rate, they walk off the plane / boat / bus and into a flat, they undermine our labour. Sit on a bus in London and watch when a Somali woman gets on with a pram and a toddler. The hostility is so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife and it’s not just white people who are hostile. The reality is so far from the myth, so how does the myth begin to dominate and feed the hostility and violence?

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/