SA must fill policy gap that breeds xenophobia

NEVA MAKGETLA

business day 07/07/2010

MEDIA reports of xenophobic threats have become commonplace. After the horrors of the last wave of attacks in 2008 that left more than 60 people dead, one would expect a more vigorous response from across society. Local mobilisation has been the key to preventing this kind of attack. But there needs to be more consistent support from leaders in the government and civil society for community groups — whether African National Congress (ANC) branches, unions or churches — to take a stand.

For a longer-term solution, SA needs a policy on immigration that addresses the realities, above all the long-standing dependence of some communities in neighbouring countries on exporting labour to SA and the effects on migration of the economic and political crises in Zimbabwe.

Development in SA was long dependent on imported labour from across southern Africa. To this day, about half of all miners are foreign born. Agriculture and domestic work have also long employed tens of thousands of poorly paid foreign workers.

From the late 1970s, however, the South African economy changed in ways that made migrant labour increasingly difficult. The sectors historically open to low-skilled foreign migrants saw severe job losses. According to Quantec, between 1985 and this year, employment in mining and agriculture fell by more than a million, or more than 40%. In contrast, overall employment expanded by 20% in this period, with most of the new jobs in retail, business services, construction and private services.

But the growing sectors did not have systems or traditions of employing foreigners. Slow employment creation from the mid- 1980s through the mid-2000s entrenched high joblessness overall, intensifying competition for employment opportunities.

Slower employment creation in SA was not offset by expanding opportunities in neighbouring countries, despite improved economic conditions after 1994. In every southern African country except Angola and Zambia, the International Labour Organisation found that the share of the working- age population with income-generating employment declined between 1994 and 2005. SA continued to provide a beacon of hope to poor people across the region.

In addition, the disastrous economic and political situation in Zimbabwe for much of this decade accelerated migration to SA. According to World Bank data, between 2000 and 2005 Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita dropped by more than 25%. The share of manufacturing in its GDP plummeted from almost 20% in the early 1990s to less than 10% in the mid-2000s. Political oppression added to the pressure on ordinary people to seek a living elsewhere.

In short, the long-standing structure of labour markets across the region combined with economic and political developments to ensure a continuous flow of migrants to SA after 1994, despite growing competition for jobs amongst lower skilled workers. Yet the democratic state has not established clear and constructive policies to manage the situation. We share that shortcoming with virtually every other country facing large-scale in-migration — there is no easy solution.

But the policy vacuum comes at a high price. The burden of dealing with large-scale in-migration has been left to the poorest communities — informal settlements, run-down inner-city neighbourhoods in Johannesburg, and working-class townships. The worst-off South Africans have ended up having to share their already limited resources with migrants. Not surprisingly, xenophobic complaints revolve heavily around areas of competition among the poor: for jobs, housing and customers. In addition, the marginalisation of foreigners in normal labour markets inevitably leads to over-representation in criminal activities.

Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that some affected groups mobilise on nationalist lines. Perhaps more surprising, and heartening, has been that the majority of ordinary South Africans, even in poor neighbourhoods with large foreign-born populations, have rejected xenophobic solutions. The 2008 violence would have been much worse were it not for grassroots solidarity in many communities.

It is crucial that this kind of community mobilisation be supported. In the short run, that means political and other organisations need to send an unambiguous and emphatic message to their local structures that they should actively resist xenophobia.

In the longer run, the government has to tackle the hard questions around migration. First, since large-scale in-migration will continue for the foreseeable future, the government must ensure that the poorest communities don’t end up paying for it. The only way to achieve that is to do more to empower and upgrade poor communities comprehensively, rather than to target foreigners.

Second, SA can no longer act as if economic and political difficulties in neighbouring countries are not our business. As long as labour markets remain regional, factors that intensify migration will affect SA directly. In its own long-term interest, SA has to initiative a more proactive and rights-based approach to development in southern Africa.

Makgetla is an economist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa.