By Clive Mutame Siachiyako
You call it xenophobia, I call it
organised crime. That’s not “fear of foreigners” as the term xenophobia tends
to mean. That’s pure criminality masked under fearing of foreigners. If it is
real fear of foreigners, why is it only the fear of black foreigners? Are they more
foreigners than others? Does it mean white foreigners are not getting jobs in
SA? Of course they are also getting them.
That’s why I argue that this is
organised crime taking advantage of weak government, weak policing system and a
mix bag of short sightedness, lawlessness and absurdity. It’s very strange to
see two police officers smiling, laughing, being tickled as a small boy gets
burnt on the street. Adults enjoying the death, the burning of a boy by tire
wrecks and to them it’s entertainment. Quite absurd!
The reasoning of South Africans
attacking ‘foreigners’ is totally unacceptable under any standard; it’s not
helpful to anyone. It won’t result into more jobs nor is it going to improve
their livelihood. Those foreigners may leave the jobs, but they won’t give you
the knowhow and competences they applied in getting things done in those jobs.
The fight is aimed at wrong targets. It’s not the foreigners fuelling poverty
and unemployment. It goes beyond it. Face the real cause and man-up.
What will happen after they have
chased all those they are saying are nauseating them, causing intense fear in
their socio, economic and financial lives? Are those street gangs going to occupy those
positions...are they going to become engineers, IT experts, legal brains,
lecturers, metallurgists, or entrepreneurs running a maze of businesses run by
those they are killing? Unfortunately, those who are gardeners will remain
gardeners, carpenters will remain carpenters, street hawkers will remain
hawkers, etc.
Trends of organised crime leave very
long term blizzards on society. SA should know and mark these words, “what’s
happening to foreigners may happen to you too...instigated by the same gangs,
same style and same vehemence,” if you don’t get to the root of this chaos.Those
criminal elements you have allowed to terrorise the streets will come for you. Once
those things they are looting are finished, they will look for the next person
to blame and thump out. It may be the working class, those they will consider
to be failing them or denying them their good life.
It happened in India when the
Bollywood, one of the most prolific and profitable film industries in the world;
became the target of underground mob. The underground mob had initially helped Bollywood
with financing when government refused to finance the industry. After a bloody
decade in the 90s, the fabric of the underworld changed. The ruthless and brash
gangsters who had replaced the old dons and their ‘work ethics', toned down
their activities. Instead of contract killings and extortion, they got involved
in the corporate sector, especially real estate.
The mob looked at the next target. They
needed continuity. The system which thought was doing a favour to them by
letting them do things their way to get around life’s hurdles had long term
headache to bring sanity to that messy.
Similarly, Russia faced organised
crime after switching to a free market economy. The Red Mafia took advantage of
that economic freedom and took control of close to 40% of the Russian economy,
doing all sorts of things to get what they wanted. Sadly, most of the things
they did were crime laden. The Red Mafia earned themselves the name of the “the
most fearsome, violent, creative, and well-educated criminal organisations in
the world.” The Red Mafia has been difficult to locate and shut down [http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/]
The two examples show how allowing notorious
criminal elements to reign pays back badly. It really backfires. SA leadership
can now seem to be not seeing. Sit on the terraces and watch, smile and pat the
gangs on their backs for systemically removing foreigners out of SA; but the
day is coming when the same gangs will vent it on you. This is truer in the
sense that chasing all foreigners won’t result into economic liberation or an
avalanche of jobs to those hawkers on the streets. Whatever miracle one may
wish to happen, it won’t turn out that way.
It’s better to learn from foreigners
how they are making it while South Africans seem to be stuck. It’s valuable to
adopt traits the foreigners are exhibiting that make them more employable and
desired in the business sector. That could be the best fear for foreigners. It would
be creative fear...well paying off use of phobia. It will then make them
managers of their own economy and employers won’t have the reason to employ
foreigners who could be paid at a higher premium.
Throwing insults at your neighbours,
killing them and scorning them won’t add value to anyone’s livelihood. Collaborating
and learning from them would be cooler than this heinous approach. If one may
ask, from the time xenophobia started; how many South Africans got jobs after
killing job holders? How many businesses were started and sustained after
haunting out the owners? It would be nice to know.
SA needs good phobia. A phobia that drives
them to learn from those they feel are taking their jobs and be part of the
race. It’s not helpful to be sited sipping tea and expect to be part of the
race. Winners get involved. They become part of the race. They get dirty. They apply
themselves. They don’t wait for freebies to fall from somewhere. Manna only fell
from above during biblical times.
What is happening in SA is not good
for anyone. If some South Africans think they are helping create employment for
their unemployed, they are using a wrong formula. You don’t thrive on
bloodshed. You don’t empower citizens using violence. What’s happening is
planting a seed of hate, violence and criminality with impunity.
Prepare those people to apply
themselves in the economy. Prepare them to work and earn. Don’t prepare a
generation of criminal minds. It will cost the country badly in the long run,
if in the short term is seems working for you. The President has to get the
grip of things. Traditional leaders should shake off Stone Age mindsets and try
to fit into a competitive and modern society they have been ushered into. It’s
time to sober up and end the rot!!
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