EDITORIAL | We can’t solve our problems by blaming them on foreigners

South Africa and, presumably, some of its neighbours are on tenterhooks over the unilateral deadline set by protesters for all undocumented immigrants to leave the country by Tuesday.

The state has set aside about R600m to assist the police and other law enforcement agencies in their endeavours to prevent June 30 and its aftermath erupting into riots similar to those in July 2021 that saw more than 300 people killed and hundreds of businesses looted and vandalised.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet have also been out talking to key stakeholders — from taxi associations, religious leaders and the business community to the Zulu monarch — in the hope that they can help defuse tensions ahead of the deadline that has been set by March and March and supported by like-minded organisations.

The Durban-based organisation, formed in March last year, has become the face of a growing anti-illegal immigrant movement in the country. Its leaders have spent the last couple of months criss-crossing the country organising protests that have forced the matter to the top of the country’s political agenda.

Although its chief spokespeople, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, Ngizwe Mchunu and “Phakel’umthakathi” Ndabandaba, claim their movement is peaceful and concerned only with undocumented immigrants — and not all foreigners of African and Asian origin — videos doing the rounds on social media suggest some of their followers do not make that distinction and think they have a right to take the law into their own hands.

The threats have left many immigrants in the country, especially those living among poor communities, feeling unsafe. While some are trying to find ways to leave South Africa, others are staying put and are said to be taking measures to protect themselves. All of this raises fears of violence.

It is within this context that the initiatives being taken by the government in conjunction with civil society and business, especially the private security industry, should be applauded.

These problems require long-term solutions that involve everyone

The country simply cannot afford a repeat of the 2021 riots. Also, given the current geopolitical climate, South Africa needs its neighbours and the rest of the continent as friends to avoid being turned into a pariah state by those who may seek to punish the country for its stance on a number of contentious international issues.

However, we would be making a grave mistake if we treated June 30 as merely a security issue. South Africa needs to address the core of the problem, which is rising unemployment, especially among the youth, increased criminality, and drug abuse and overcrowding in schools and public hospitals. Our unemployment crisis is not due to foreigners and will not be resolved by chasing immigrants away.

These problems require long-term solutions that involve everyone. But perhaps one of the immediate steps is to root out the corruption in the public sector that makes it possible for people to enter the country illegally and stay in the country by paying their way.

Almost every week, a new witness appears before the Madlanga commission and shines more light, often involuntarily, on how our police service — run almost exclusively by South Africans — has become a danger to society due to its officers and leaders working as runners for criminal gangs.

It is because we have allowed the police system, like other parts of the state, to be collapsed by corruption that we are losing the battle against crime and not attracting enough investment to help us create new jobs.

We can’t solve these problems by merely blaming them on foreigners.