SA is running dangerously close to being a lawless state where there are no consequences for criminality and citizens are fed up.
It has been a difficult week at a time when the economy is failing and SA is hosting the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Africa meeting in Cape Town in the hopes of attracting investment.
While the country hoped to put its best foot forward, parts of Gauteng, the economic hub, saw foreign-owned shops looted, five people murdered and about 300 arrested.
The attacks on foreign-owned shops have led to tensions with other African countries, especially Nigeria, which has boycotted the WEF meeting, and retaliated against SA businesses and the embassy in that country.
It is not clear what the grievances behind the attacks are. We have heard reasons such as foreigners are taking SA citizens’ jobs and claims that foreign nationals are running drug and prostitution rings in the country.
Some say it was sparked by attacks in August on the Johannesburg metro police during raids on counterfeit goods traders that led to the trashing of the city’s streets.
But the big question is: where is SA’s leadership?
In Gauteng, especially Johannesburg, where the violence has been most intense, neither premier David Makhura nor mayor Herman Mashaba have made ill-advised public comments about foreign nationals.
Several provincial politicians, including Makhura, crossed the xenophobia line during their campaigning before the May elections. How can they now face the looters and rioters and say something different?
For the past three years Mashaba has been criticised for his stance on foreign nationals living in Johannesburg and he has been accused of fuelling xenophobic sentiment. He said foreign nationals were responsible for criminality in the city.
In 2017 the African Diaspora Forum (ADF) lodged a complaint of xenophobia against Mashaba at the SA Human Rights Commission. The two eventually reached a settlement.
Mashaba has denied his comments are xenophobic. He has categorised the attacks in Johannesburg as criminality and said he would ask Makhura to request that President Cyril Ramaphosa send in the army to assist the police.
Makhura’s comments regarding foreign nationals were made a short time before the attacks. The premier reportedly said last week that the provincial government planned to stop foreigners from opening certain types of business in Gauteng. This would apparently be part of a new Township Economy Bill to be tabled in the legislature soon.
Earlier in 2019 he made comments about how foreign nationals contribute to the crime rate in SA. In response to this week’s violence and looting, Makhura threatened to send the army to hotspots in the province if the attacks continue.
All of this detracts from the credibility of politicians when they stand up to condemn violence against foreign nationals. There are legitimate concerns over the state of the home affairs department and SA’s porous borders, which must be addressed by the national government, but the language used needs to be measured, as these sentiments are used as a reason for citizens to take matters into their own hands as the economy sinks and frustration rises.
It all goes back to there being no consequences for potentially dangerous comments. If our politicians are not held accountable for what they say and do, it is no wonder looters believe they can take the law into their own hands.
SA’s national leaders have been no better. Despite police minister Bheki Cele being on the ground, it took Ramaphosa days before he came out to address what was happening on the streets of Gauteng. While the temperature was boiling in Gauteng, national outrage grew, heightened by several high-profile murders of women.
In Cape Town, on the sidelines of the WEF meeting, activists protested against gender violence after the murder and rape of Uyinene Mrwetyana, a University of Cape Town student, and the murder of female boxing champion, Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels. In a move that shocked many, police used water cannons and stun grenades on Wednesday to disperse the protesting crowd.
This did not deter the protesters, who returned on Thursday, forcing Ramaphosa to skip his WEF session to address them. The president was booed when he told the protesters outside parliament that he wanted men to take responsibility for the rape and deaths of women in SA.
Things got even more bizarre when justice minister Ronald Lamola told journalists that the cabinet would discuss a referendum on the return of the death penalty. This was an outrageous comment from the minister, considering that the Constitutional Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional almost 25 years ago. The justice ministry has since sought to clarify his comments.
To make matters worse for SA’s prospects of attracting investment, mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe at a mining conference in Australia promoted a mineral that existed only in the minds of those behind an April Fool’s Day spoof.
SA desperately needs someone to hit the reset button.
• Quintal is political editor
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