Features

May 27, 2008

South Africa: Violence tied to Zimbabwe

By Alex Boraine

CAPE TOWN - To find the causes of the epidemic of violence against immigrants, South Africans should look first at their country's economic policies. And then they should look north, to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's deepening political and economic crisis poses grave dangers to the entire region. South Africa and its neighbors need to take strong actions to promote both peace and justice there, beginning before the presidential runoff election scheduled for late next month.

The violence that has taken the lives of more than 40 African immigrants here and forced tens of thousands of others from their homes grows out of a desperate competition for jobs. South Africa's unemployment rate hovers above 25 percent, and many South Africans believe their own, limited opportunities for economic security are threatened by the presence of more than 3 million immigrants, by far the largest number of them Zimbabweans. Those fears are not unreasonable.

South Africa's lack of jobs and the population's lack of education and skills are, in part, a legacy of the apartheid era's malignant neglect of the country's black majority. The problems are also a testament to painfully slow economic reform during the 14 years since the beginning of democracy.

Strong anti-immigrant feelings are not unique to this region. The United States is erecting 1,000 kilometers of fencing along its border with Mexico, a measure that American officials acknowledge will not stop illegal immigration. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last week announced new measures to make illegal immigration punishable by prison terms.

To their credit, President Thabo Mbeki and his government, church leaders and the political opposition have rightly condemned the violence. Safety and security are the right of every resident, citizen or not, and Mr. Mbeki last week also took the correct, necessary step of ordering the army to help police end the attacks.

Those actions, however, will not ease unemployment, end xenophobia or address the even larger, root problems beyond this country's borders.

South Africa's government should change its own economic policies to give job creation the highest priority. Along with its neighbors, it must also help Zimbabwe solve its political crisis - the only route to repairing Zimbabwe's economy and thereby give the wave of economic and political refugees reason to return home.

Solving the crisis in Zimbabwe should include these steps:

South Africa and other African states should guarantee the safety of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, winner of the largest number of votes in the presidential election held at the end of March. The 14-nation Southern African Development Community and the African Union should make clear to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe that he will be held responsible if Mr. Tsvangirai is harmed.

The SADC should also publicly insist that the run-off election on 27 June be free of fraud and of any efforts to intimidate voters, and the organization should make clear its willingness to reject the results if those standards of fundamental fairness are not met.

If necessary, Mr. Mbeke and the SADC should also consider offering Mr. Mugabe a safe haven under certain conditions, to allow a peaceful transfer of power. Those conditions should not preclude a truth-seeking process that examines actions by Mr. Mugabe and others, or a judicial process to hold accountable individuals responsible for serious human abuses.

Whatever steps they take, Mr. Mbeki, the SADC and the international community must ensure that the rights of victims are not traded away. It is important that mediators not set aside justice; peace will have a better chance if it does not ignore the rights of those who have suffered most.

South Africa's economic health will always remain linked to the political and economic fortunes of its neighbors. Helping Zimbabweans secure justice is the clearest path for South Africa securing its own economic security and improving the prospects of everyone within its borders.

Mr. Boraine, who served as deputy chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is founder and chairman of the International Center for Transitional Justice.