[Reader-list] Karima Brown on South African Pogroms

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

I remember meeting Mbeki for a minute at a 1994 Joburg event. Somebody
whispered to me, "this will be the next president." I thiught he was
nothing like Mandela. Later I was reminded that my entire generation
had an over-the-top hero worship of M. Artists Against Sun City was
the first global political boycott I supported. The first time I kept
a list of the "bad artists". The ones who broke the boycott.
Necklacing was the first time we suppressed the excesses of liberation
movements (well there were numerous other examples, I just wasn't old
enough to comprehend). Live footage of Mandela walking out of the
prison, watched in a college dormitory, was, well it was history, no,
and I wasn't expecting to be witness to any of that (later that same
live TV in Ohio gave us the LA riots and Clarence Thomas hearings).

With all that burden of history, Mbeki was always going to be unfairly
compared. African analysts assured us all that Mbeki would be fine, he
would rise to the ocassion, wouldn't he? You didn't need a Mandela at
every moment in history. And it's true you don't. But an incompetent,
venal, slippery politician is a steep fall from those levels.

Karima Brown's comment today, where she argues that "Mbeki's
government has become so adept at obfuscation that setting up
commissions, panels and conducting audits in the face of any crisis
seems like a national pastime." reminds that some fears were
justified.

- Naeem

Fiery Death in South Africa
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-rampage20-2008may20,0,4906166.story

South Africa: Pogroms Expose Citizens' Ugly Insularity
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805200122.html
Karima Brown
Johannesburg

WHILE it is well and good to blame the government for not having
proper policies in place to deal with SA's refugee crisis, the
violence against foreign Africans is a reflection of something far
uglier.

Granted, the government has consistently displayed a tin ear when it
comes to the sheer scale of our refugee crisis, especially since the
economic and political meltdown in Zimbabwe in recent years . The lack
of leadership from the government in recent weeks is also not helping.
This leadership vacuum comes from the top. After a week of violence
that left several people dead, all President Thabo Mbeki could mutter
at the weekend was that the police must act firmly and arrest the
culprits and that a panel would be set up to look at the underlying
causes of the violence.

When in doubt, appoint a panel. Mbeki's government has become so adept
at obfuscation that setting up commissions, panels and conducting
audits in the face of any crisis seems like a national pastime. The
police's conduct also leaves much to be desired. Apart from promising
to retaliate with live ammunition should they be fired at, the South
African Police Service has done very little to get to the bottom of
how marauding groups of armed men can go from place to place and
attack whoever they deem to be foreigners.

It is also common knowledge that the police are not free of the
xenophobia that is so present in communities. Police harassment of
foreign Africans in places such as Hillbrow, Yeoville and other inner-
city communities is well known.

But what the recent pogroms in Gauteng townships point to is not just
state failure. South African society as a whole stands condemned. The
violence exposes shortcomings in our society at a moral, social and
political level. Considering the solidarity shown during our struggle
against apartheid by our neighbours in the frontline states, the
killing of foreign Africans in a so-called liberated SA is
particularly appalling. Not only did many on the continent endure
military attacks, they also provided shelter, food and even employment
to thousands of exiles when they needed it most. Now that it is our
turn to provide sanctuary and solidarity, we repay our neighbours with
murder and rape.

While it is true that there is a scramble for resources in poor
communities that is often exploited by local strongmen for political
gain, it does not provide all the answers to the senseless violence
and the finger-pointing at foreigners. These communities have always
been badly off, yet we have not seen the level of violence of recent
weeks.

Moreover, the silence from community organisations such as civic
structures, local churches and other grassroots bodies in the wake of
the attacks is simply deafening. This silence points either to
acquiescence on the part of local leaders or a complete demobilisation
on the part of community organisations that formed the backbone of
resistance during the struggle years. Whatever the reasons, it points
to a dangerous vacuum that has already been exploited with deadly
consequences.

Apart from the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, which plays a
vital role in providing sanctuary to vulnerable refugees, why are our
spiritual leaders not responding to the cries of the victims of the
recent violence with more vigour? As vulnerable women and children
flee their homes, where is the moral leadership of the country?

Since the outbreak of attacks in Alexandra, the African National
Congress leadership has spoken out, but it is simply not enough,
especially if one considers that the violence is spreading and could
soon engulf the province. Is it not ironic that most, if not all, of
the victims happen to be fellow Africans? This cruel reality blows out
of the water any notions of pan-Africanism, never mind the African
renaissance so often spoken of by Mbeki and other politicians. Clearly
our isolation during apartheid did not only trap whites in an
unsustainable bubble, it also insulated the majority from the world
including, importantly, our neighbours in the region.

Brown is political editor.