Migrants border on the absurd

The death of any foreigner in South Africa is, in most cases, guaranteed to raise the spectre of xenophobia. But that is not always the case and confirmation of that came this week from an unusual source. The Bangladesh ambassador to South Africa revealed that, in the past four years alone, more than 400 nationals from his country have been murdered in South Africa. So far this year, the embassy in Pretoria has been involved in repatriating the bodies of 88 Bangladeshi migrants.

Those are shocking figures which might have extracted howls of rage about the brutality of South Africans and their hatred for outsiders. However, according to the ambassador, Shabbir Ahmed Chowdhury, the murders were because of business of personal disputes within the community.

He revealed that most Bangladeshis with personal or business grievances hired local hitmen to kill their fellow countrymen.

Even more revealing was the ambassador’s frank acknowledgement that there are as many as 300 000 Bangladeshis in South Africa – and that most of them are illegals. Bangladeshi media have reported how young men pay traffickers up to $12 000 (R180 000) to get to South Africa. Once here, many open up small shops, of which thousands are spread all over SA.

This whole story gives lie to the claim that many people in this country illegally are fleeing from persecution in their own countries. Those from Bangladesh are clearly economic migrants and bring little with them in terms of skills, other than an ability to survive.

These are the sort of people who should not be allowed into South Africa. Efforts should be targeted at keeping them out. Ambassador Chowdhury himself urged the SA government to take firmer action on illegal migration and crime.

We agree. Saying so does not make us xenophobic. It means we put South Africans first.