Small pie can’t feed four million illegal aliens

I HAVE yet to meet one South African who believes the killing of fellow Africans is justifiable, hence the outcry against recent xenophobic attacks.

The past weeks have been mired in SA’s shame at the killing of fellow Africans on one side and leaders, government, artists and citizens condemning or professing that we are all Africans. Social media was abuzz with slogans of artists saying no to xenophobia.

But this messaging is simply scratching at the surface and reeks of a dialogue that is incomplete and lacking in the root causes, sentiments and economic realities faced by many South Africans.

Yes, neighbouring countries helped SA in the fight against apartheid. But most black South Africans simply do not understand how foreigners seem to want to settle in their large numbers in South Africa and whether this is pay-back time for their help during apartheid.

Around dinner tables made up of only black South Africans, South Africans in general – including those who are well travelled or have been in exile – hold the view that most fellow Africans always seem too eager to settle on our shores and never seem to want to go back to their own countries. Yet people from exile will tell you how they missed South Africa and how they would have stayed in South Africa if it was not for apartheid.

South Africans simply do not understand this wanting to settle in South Africa rather than contributing to their own respective countries.

South Africans see fellow Africans opening mega-Protestant churches in SA, competing for the same jobs at half prices and opening spaza shops whilst secretly thinking why don’t they do that in their own countries.

“When we were in exile, we wanted to go home” South Africans lament.

And the question arises as to whether South Africans in exile were there to settle and compete equally for limited resources as foreign nations seem to be doing in SA? This is what annoys South Africans when they talk about foreigners around dinner tables.

And, frankly speaking, it is a fair entitlement especially from the poor, to expect your country to benefit you first before it shares with other countries. This taking into account that there are two million South Africans going to bed hungry every night whilst four million undocumented foreign nationals are taking a slice of the small pie.

One can counter this view that borders were created by colonialism but that is an African Renaissance sentiment that is devoid of content and what it truly means in application.

No country or organisation can function effectively without proper controls otherwise it opens itself to immense risk where there is undetected crime, the middle class hires housekeepers at half price and big business prefers foreign nationals to the South Africans who will demand a minimum wage.

South Africa needs to admit its flaws in immigration policy and that we sold an unrealistic dream to the world of this country being open to all without defining its parameters correctly.

This is why it is difficult for me to blame poor people for resorting to this violence in order to be heard nor fellow Africans for believing SA is a free for all country despite four million of them not following procedure.

To be competing for the same resources with four million other fellow Africans is not fair.

South Africa simply has its own problems to attend to and that is the reality despite the belief that we are all the human race, and slogans of “no xenophobia.”

It is rather difficult to have a peaceful protest when you are hungry. To be asked by government to be patient simply does not cut it on an empty stomach.

Undoubtedly, the attacks were misguided but leaders with influence such as King Zwelithini using words such as wars in an imbizo meant to calm the waters simply add fire to an already emotive, complex issue and must also be condemned.

From Marikana to the recent xenophobic attacks, it is clear that South Africa is not drunk on the reconciliation deal that was struck in 1994 nor the message of a South Africa open to all, nor peaceful marches in order to be heard by leaders.

It’s time to go back to the drawing board, or something is going to give and we can expect this kind of violence again.

The bomb is ticking.