Sort it out now

THE broad aims of Operation Fiela, an initiative involving the police, the SA National Defence Force and Home Affairs – to restore order in Durban and parts of Gauteng hit by xenophobic violence – cannot be faulted.

No country can afford to harbour untraceable “illegals” within its borders. Illegal immigrants were mentioned often as sources of frustration and resentment in the recent outbreak of violent xenophobia in Durban and Johannesburg.

Security forces have also conducted a pre-dawn raid at a Johannesburg hostel, indiscriminately frog-marching hostel dwellers out, some in their undergarments, as police searched for anything that could link the resident to the xenophobic looting of businesses owned by foreigners.

The operation has so far resulted in more than 900 arrests mostly in Gauteng and KwaZuluNatal.

Last week’s massive security force operation in downtown Johannesburg, including a blitz at the Central Methodist Church, unearthed more than 400 suspected undocumented immigrants, who will be deported if found to be here illegally.

Yet it is also true that much of the hostility was also directed at foreigners with the necessary papers. One of the many problems with that shameful display of hate we have just been through was the lack of distinction between undocumented foreigners and those legally here.

Neither should have been hounded and assaulted. Documented foreigners should certainly not even be harassed.

The authorities are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They must do something about the problem of illegal immigrants, yet challenging people at whim for their papers would be a shade of hostility, and would violate the rights of guests who have properly entered the country. It may also be misinterpreted as a licence to keep an unrelenting focus on foreigners, who have human rights and other protection under our laws.

But to do nothing now will only intensify the problem in the long run. Last month’s troubles prove that a lasting solution must be found – urgently.