By Takura Zhangazha*
The South
African government recently announced that it is no longer going to renew special
permits for Zimbabweans that have been officially working and living within its
borders since 2009. It gave those
affected by this at most the next twelve months to apply for normal work permits
upon failure of which they would either have to voluntarily return home or in the worst
circumstances, have to be deported.
While I am
not familiar with the legal import of this new executive order by the government
of South Africa I know it feeds into specific narratives about migration,
migrant labour and narrow nationalisms in Southern Africa.
In context
the decision by the South African National Congress (ANC) ruling government is
not surprising. Given the fact that it
did not do well in recent local government elections against the backdrop of
nascent political parities that touted xenophobic slogans as their key campaign
platforms it had to react to what is an emerging populist South African
sentiment. This being that foreigners, particularly
black foreigners of whatever African origin, but more specifically from
Zimbabwe, Somalia and Nigeria are not welcome in South Africa.
The leader
of the second largest opposition party in South Africa, Julius Malema had to
issue an emotive but condescending public statement that he would never subscribe
to such xenophobic sentiment. Even if it
costs him not only success in the local government but also national elections.
His counterparts in the opposition however went ahead to form minority local
councils based on riding partly on a reflection of what the general
anti-foreign campaign sentiment reflected.
And took significant control of major municipalities at the expense of
the ANC.
As Uhuru
Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, stated in a visit soon after these elections,
he admired the maturity of South African democracy. As we all should. The elections reflected a specific realtiy
that we cannot just shrug off. A
distinct, if not majority, number of eligible voters in South Africa do not
like foreigners and their emotions can be whipped up by any campaign slogans
that point in that direction.
It is a
reality that also, while being completely astounding, makes one reflect on a
number of issues.
The first
being the fact that in Southern Africa, the liberation of that country officially
referred to as South Africa but that we once called Azania, is the culmination
of a collective regional struggle. In
fact the independence of South Africa is one of the most unique ones in global
history. To the extent that even while
the Global North was lambasting Muammar Gaddafi, the revered Nelson Mandela was
busy defending him for his role in the anti-apartheid struggle. And this is before we even begin to discuss
the role of SADC formerly known as either SADCC or the Frontline States in this
liberation struggle. Not forgetting Cuba
and that history making battle of Quito Carnavale in Angola that not only
brought Namibian independence but also contributed to South Africa’s. To put it simply, even though South Africans
will not want to hear this, their country is one that is constructed out of
Southern African and beyond struggles against colonialism.
They may
forget the Witwatersand Native Labour Association (WINELA)and how with indentured
labour from as far off as Angola, the now Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi,
Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe constructed not only the Johannesburg (its still
called that!) and the settler political economy that they still value so much.
(This is before we discuss the more long duree labour imported from South East
Asia). It was a settler colony that barring the struggle efforts of not only
the ANC and the Pan African Congress among a myriad of other movements would
have succeeded in creating the equivalent of an Israel at the southern-most tip
of the African continent.
But the
alternative counter arguments are pretty apparent. A key one being why are there so many
Zimbabweans coming to South Africa.
Including one that says in a Trumpian sense, they should go back to fix
their ‘own’ country. Given the
Zimbabwean political economy after the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP)
and also an Africa continent wide assumption that departure from home-
emigration- is better, this does not hold water. At least historically.
We now know
some of the reasons that there was no direct liberal interventionism in
Zimbabwe during Mugabe’s reign. It involved
but was beyond the arguments around the FTLRP.
Hence the examples of Libya, Syria and Afghanistan that we see
today.
The key
question is the way forward for the thousands of working Zimbabweans affected
by this executive decision of the South African government. It is easy to argue that if their papers are
not in order, they should come back home.
And they would easily retort, come back home to what? The Zimbabwean government has to counter this
move on the basis of historical African solidarity and contemporary regional
integration. It has to protect our emigrant
citizens for the value they bring to not only the South African national economy but also our regional economy and the
historical regional migration ties that we can never wish away. Even if South Africans
assume they are exceptional or that they landed on the moon and came back like the Americans.
The
Zimbabwean government also has an
obligation not just for its own returnees but for all of us at home to create a
more equitable society where we all have equal access to public services that those in the
Diaspora would easily boast about. If we
build an equitable society beyond social media characterizations, we will be
able to comfortably say to the cdes in South Africa, Tigashire, Sethule,
Welcome!
Takura
Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
fair points
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