South Africa: The shame of a nation that has forgotten its history too soon

On Thursday, Renson Amuko, a Kenyan living in Johannesburg, South Africa, took to Facebook to express his close encounter with the xenophobic attacks sweeping through the Rainbow Nation.

“It’s bad now ... Jules Cleveland is under xenophobic attack. Just had a narrow escape with my family. We r at a parking lot at eastgate mall. Vandalism and looting of all foreign owned shops. Eish. God has to intervene ... I hv never been so scared.”

Miles away in Durban, the epicentre of the violence, Kenyan international footballer Paul Were described the scenes of violence against foreigners as “horrific and traumatic” and also “unsettling”. Mr Were, who plays for South Africa’s Amazulu football club, told Nairobi News that he had been forced to limit his movements to avoid putting his life in danger.

“This violence has yet to stretch to where I am based but I’m not taking chances. At the moment, I am based at the club house and I strictly use the team bus to and from training and matches,” said the former Tusker and AFC Leopards player.

Mr Were moved to the top flight South African football league in a three-year deal in mid-2014. The other Kenyan footballer in South Africa, Brian Mandela, plays for Sanlam Santos in Cape Town.

A South African-based Kenyan student, who had initially posted updates on Facebook assuring her family and friends that all was well, later said the attacks had reached the town where she lived. She asked for prayers and protection as she feared being targeted. When Lifestyle contacted her, she said she preferred to remain anonymous for her safety.    

Mr Silas Jakakimba, a Kenyan politician and PhD candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told Lifestyle he was concerned about the situation although he hoped for the best.

“The situation is actually bad and we just hope it doesn’t turn out to be like it was in 2008 when many lives were lost. So far there are foreigners who have lost their lives. A lady was dragged on the streets and stoned. A man was burnt alive even as he escaped to save his life. A shop owner was recently beaten in the presence of the police,” he said.

“Currently, Durban and Kwa Zulu Natal areas are the worst hit. Soweto had an incident some days ago. There is growing fear around Johannesburg area here in Gauteng but authorities have assured us of security,” he added.

Mr Jakakimba said he had contacted the Kenyan High Commission in South Africa on Thursday and officials had told him they were monitoring the situation.  On Thursday, Kenya’s Foreign minister Amina Mohammed assured said in Nairobi that the government was ready to evacuate its nationals from South Africa.

“So far, there are no reported cases of casualties involving Kenyans,” she said.

VOLUNTARY MOVE TO MAKESHIFT CAMPS

Some Kenyans had voluntarily moved to makeshift camps for their safety and their number was expected to rise.

Migrants, mostly from other African states and Asia, have moved to South Africa in large numbers since white-minority rule ended in 1994. Many South Africans accuse them of taking jobs in a country where the unemployment rate is 24 per cent.

Johannesburg has until recently been quiet but on Thursday night the BBC reported that about 200 foreigners took refuge at a police station. A crowd began looting foreign-owned shops in East Johannesburg on Thursday night.

Eyewitness Raphael Nkomo told the BBC: “A group of men were dropped from a minibus. All of them were armed with [knives]. They started chasing people, throwing stones at them, hitting them.”

Thousands across Africa have gone online to label South Africa “xenophobic” – a trend that actually began before the recent murders of immigrants and widespread violence. In Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya as well as inside South Africa itself, thousands of people on social media used a hashtag, #XenophobicSA, to condemn attitudes in the country.

The attacks began after alleged comments by a ceremonial leader, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, telling migrants to go home – although he says his remarks were mistranslated. Even though hashtags highlighting the violence have spiked in the past few days, the treatment of foreigners in South Africa has long been a discussion point on social media.

The reactions on Twitter have been furious with users condemning the attacks that had by then led to eight deaths. Users on the social site accused South Africans of being a forgetful, ungrateful lot and a disgrace to the Nelson Mandela legacy. Some commentators pointed out that the other African governments had helped South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) in the fight against apartheid by providing funds and a safe haven for its leaders.

“I know @Nelson Mandela #Tata is stirring in his grave crying for the Rainbow Nation dogged by xenophobia as Zuma watches helplessly,” said Winnie Kamau.

“There are NO African ‘foreigners’. Africa is one. What’s FOREIGN are the colonial artificial borders. “xenophobia” is an imposed reality,” said Dali Mpofu.

“Xenophobia is a disgrace to our Mandela legacy. Xenophobia attacks are an attack on Nelson Mandela,” said Jay Naidoo.

“I doubt some of these perpetrators know how much the rest of Africa STOOD with them against Apartheid,” said Obi Ezekweseli.

Nigeria and Malawi have also threatened to close South African businesses within their territories if the attacks do not stop with the Economic Organisation of West African States terming the attacks barbaric and criminal.

“It is a pity that the very people, whose nations sacrificed to help South Africans fight, repel and defeat apartheid, will today be considered aliens and hacked to death in such barbaric manners,” said ECOWAS chair, Ghana’s president John Mahama, on Friday.

During the fight for South Africa’s independence, the ANC was supported by a number of African states which allowed them to set up military training bases and hosted its leaders fleeing from increasing repression by the Apartheid state. These included Ethiopia, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

As the situation unfolds, it appears Kenyans, like many other foreigners, are not resting easy. 

“There is fear generally across the board so long as you are a foreigner, though Zimbabweans and Nigerians have so far suffered more casualties in terms of forced evictions and injuries,” said Mr Jakakimba.

-Additional reporting from BBC