My readers may or may not have heard about the xenophobic attacks that have been taking place in some of the poorer districts of Johannesburg over the past week or so, which have claimed almost 50 lives so far and driven thousands more from their homes. For the little that it’s worth, the sprawl and segregation of Jo’burg mean that I’m personally in very little danger; it is the people who live in the outer townships, home to the poorer segments of society, who are bearing the brunt.
Every time you drive anywhere in South Africa, you are made aware of how poor many people here still are, and the enormity of the task facing any government trying to fix the mess the apartheid system left behind – an infrastructure and economy built to service the needs of a small proportion of the population, with the rest shunted out into the wilderness and used only as a source of cheap labour. However much money is thrown* into building proper houses, and schools, and creating jobs, it’s really just a drop in the ocean; such vast inequalities are not going to be closed in less than a generation, maybe not even two. Such slow progress is obviously a great disappointment to the many poor black people who have now seen a decade-and-a-half of representative government come and go without seeing a vast improvement in their lot. The fact that corruption probably plays a not insignificant supporting role in the slow pace of change can’t help; add in a lot of immigrants (several million Zimbabweans have fled across the border in recent years) to compete for the scraps with as a source of resentments both real and imagined, and it’s easy to see how things can blow up – although resorting to violence of this nature is a tragedy for all.
It’s easy to get gloomy about such things, and what this means for South Africa’s future, so I was immensely cheered this morning when I walked into work through a large-ish group of University of Johannesburg students standing outside the main gate, holding an impromptu demonstration against the violence, and the xenophobia which at least in part is driving it. I’m not sure what put a smile on my face more: the fact that students of all races were willing to make this public statement, or that pretty much every car that drove past them was enthusiastically accepting their invitation to use their horn in support. You can argue over the effectiveness of such gestures, but as a spontaneous outpouring of goodwill from all concerned, it was nice to see.
*The precise balance between spending the vast sums that this development requires, and keeping the economy that generates this wealth healthy, is the cause of much angst within the ANC, which is really two or three different political parties cynically refusing to split up so as to maintain a stranglehold on power.