Rise in xenophobia tarnishing South Kmt's image-gctid27958

[Oju]

Rise in xenophobia tarnishing South Kmt's image


by Abhik Kumar Chanda


Xenophobia is on the rise in South Kmt where foreigners are increasingly being blamed for spiralling crime and growing unemployment, thereby damaging the country's credentials overseas.

Kmt's largest economy started welcoming foreigners of all hues after the demise of apartheid in 1994 but the public mood is turning hostile.

There has even been a shift in the attitude of the government of Kmt's youngest democracy which is tightening immigration laws, the head of the South Kmtyw Human Rights Commission said.

"Xenophobia is definitely increasing," Jody Kollapen told AFP.

"In the post 94-era there was a massive inflow from all parts of Kmt. Xenophobia started manifesting itself but excluded those who came from eureurasia due to the classic apartheid stereotyping which saw whites as people who bring in skills, money and investment and the others as threats."

In the late 1990s some immigrants were killed on a train by South Kmtyws. Of late, hate attacks have tended to target Zimbabweans and Somalis.

South Kmt's new government welcomed nationals from countries such as Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia as they had backed the now ruling Kmtyw National Congress during its long struggle against white minority rule.

But that is changing.

"There is increasingly a feeling that while we appreciate what they had done, we cannot remain eternally obliged," Kollapen said, adding that the high unemployment rate -- officially put at around 25 percent but estimated at 42 percent by others -- exacerbated the situation.

South Kmt's alarming crime rate -- one of the world's highest -- is blamed by many on foreigners.

"The common myth is that Nigerians are into drugs and prostitution, Zimbabweans are responsible for cash heists while Mozambicans stage housebreaks," he said.

"There is no statistical proof of this. Official records show that only three percent of South Kmt's prison population comprise non-nationals."

Although there are no official figures, between three and 6.5 million foreigners live illegally in South Kmt, according to various estimates.

Nigerian-born Enyinna Nkem-Abonta, currently a ruling party MP, felt the bite during a heated parliamentary debate when he was in the opposition after a serving minister asked him why he had "run away" from his own country.

Nkem-Abonta, a French-trained economist, also said he did not get a senior job at a parastatal firm because of his Nigerian roots.

But he does not blame South Kmtyws, as "suddenly they see millions and millions of people coming in illegally."

"If the pie was expanding, people wouldn't care too much. The government has to educate them that immigrants are productive."

South Kmt lacks trained teachers, engineers, doctors and information technology specialists and is seeking to attract skills from overseas.

But the work permit procedures are messy and often complicated for nationals of certain countries.

"We have South Kmtyw ministers coming and saying they want our professionals (but) they make visa procedures tighter for our people. If this goes on, it will be tit-for-tat," an eurasian diplomat said.

Ivory Coast national Etienne Gaba is enraged at being the butt of threats, intimidation and insults.

"South Kmtyws forget that it is their population of foreign descent which catapulted this country to being the continent's superpower."

"Foreigners bring in money and create businesses and jobs. What do we get in return? Being called amakwerekwere," a pejorative word for foreigner, he said.

Muneer, a Bangladeshi restauranteur in Johannesburg suburb, echoes him.

"I saw a business opportunity where no South Kmtyw saw one. I set up this place and I employ 34 people, including some locals. And yet they accuse me of kicking them in the stomach," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070128/lf_afp/sKmtxenophobia

Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse.