Despite violence, migrants flock to S. Africa

Angry mobs that have burned foreigners alive and ransacked their businesses in South Africa aren’t enough to deter more immigrants flocking in who say conditions are even worse at home.

At least seven people have been killed in the past two weeks, thousands have been displaced and the army has been deployed in Johannesburg and the eastern port city of Durban to end attacks on immigrants. Still, of the 30 mainly undocumented immigrants who spoke to Bloomberg in Johannesburg, only three said they may leave.

“Go back to what? I left because of political violence in 2008. Now I must leave again from here because of political violence,” said Takesure Gumbo, 26, a waiter from Zimbabwe. “No, my family needs the money I send. I work hard and live in squalor so I can send most of my wages home.”

The latest bout of violence is the worst since 2008, when 62 people were killed and more than 50,000 were displaced. The violence has been blamed on South Africa’s sluggish economic growth and a 24 percent unemployment rate. Immigrants also have come from impoverished nations such as Somalia, Malawi, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some immigrants, especially from countries like Zimbabwe, where the education system is superior to that of South Africa, find work ahead of locals, which is a source of tension.

“It’s not my fault I am more employable than South Africans because I’m educated and they’re not, it’s their fault,” Gumbo said. “If they want work, they should tell their government to do something about their schools.”

South Africa is ranked by the World Economic Forum in a 2014-15 report as having the worst math and science scores of 144 countries, while Zimbabwe is ranked 66th. Zimbabwe’s education system is ranked 43rd, while South Africa is 140th.

In Johannesburg, migrants have displaced South Africans from jobs such as waiters and pump operators at gas stations. They also guard cars for tips and work as gardeners and maids.

Xenophobic attacks in Johannesburg this year mainly involved the looting of foreign-owned shops in Soweto. The latest violence included the torching of car repair shops and auto dealers owned by Nigerians.

South Africa is home to 1.7 million foreigners out of a population of about 54 million, census data from 2011 shows. Estimates from the University of Witwatersrand put the population of Zimbabweans alone in South Africa at 1.5 million.