Parliamentary joint subcommittee on probing violence against foreign nationals gets underway

On Friday, the Parliamentary joint subcommittee on probing violence against foreign nationals sat for the second time. I have been appointed to the committee along with my DA colleagues Sej Motau from the National Assembly and Bridget Masango from the National Council of Provinces (she has replaced Jaco Londt who had to withdraw due to other commitments).

Media coverage has been meagre so far but will doubtless increase as the committee's deliberations ensue. ENCA covered the announcement of the Committee - see the link below:

ENCA on the announcement of the Committee

I wrote an opinion piece for The Star after the January outbreak of violence - see it here. It concentrates on the DA's position on maximising opportunities as a solution to the violence. (Our Vision 2029 launch yesterday and our Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity values statement are very pertinent to this issue).

I also reported Minister Lindiwe Zulu to the Human Rights Commission for her irresponsible comments issued soon afterwards- see here. She is yet to respond to my complaint and has dissembled continuously on the matter.

The subcommittee will report its findings by the end of August. We have to review a mountain of written and oral material already in the public domain, and will conduct oversight visits in the Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng to speak to interested parties. These include representatives of foreign nationals affected by the violence, of spaza and tuck shops run by South Africans who claim they are under threat from foreigners who break the law while doing business, embassies of African and other countries concerned about the "xenophobic attacks", and human rights organisations objecting to violations of our constitution and legal provisions.

At Friday's meeting I mentioned discussions I had had in Soweto and KwaMashu with locals complaining they were deprived of the "liberation dividend" by people who had not fought and struggled against apartheid but were benefiting from our liberal democracy and economic opportunities not found in their home countries.

Since 1994 South Africa's borders have been notoriously porous, leading to millions of immigrants pouring into the country, all seeking a better life. Many of these lie at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid, eeking out a living alongside township and rural owners of small retail businesses.

Taxi drivers, waiters, car guards, gardeners - we are all familiar with Malawians, Zimbabweans and others from our northern neighbours who are desperate to work. They compete for every rand on offer, but not on a level playing field. This is at the heart of the locals' grievances.

Without wanting to pre-judge our findings, safe to say foreigners have been able to out-compete locals and this has led to considerable resentment and envy.

Foreigners are prepared to work for less, work longer hours, have access to networks enabling group buying and better prices, and sometimes abuse bylaws relating to where and when they can trade. There is also the issue of police turning a blind eye to questionable practices, and perhaps accepting bribes.

The death and destruction meted out on foreigners is inexcusable. No question there is criminality involved. But is Operation Fiela the best way to deal with it? Many say it is not, but the ANC appears to back it - see here , here  and here for some analysis.

This is a complicated issue but what is clear is that the dire state of our economy and government incompetence are major causes of the violence. There is not enough work to go around, Home Affairs are allowing too many illegal immigrants into the country and not processing asylum seekers expeditiously, and local authorities are failing to implement bylaws.

It emerged in Friday's meeting that recommendations after the 2008 outbreak of xenophobic violence have not been implemented. Our job in this subcommittee is to identify causes, recommend measures to counter them and make sure all parties are on board to ensure Parliament's voice is heard.