The Soweto Attacks

 

The recent xenophobic attacks by Soweto residents on foreigner-owned stores raise a number of questions that seem to demand answers.

·         Are these attacks a form of Apartheid?  They certainly seem to be, with the local shopkeepers association demanding that foreigners be banned from ownership of businesses in Soweto.  That view is in compliance with the new tack taken by the ANC since the accession of Thabo Mbeki to the Presidency, and more strongly since Jacob Zuma has been threshing about in a desperate attempt to remain relevant to the part of the electorate that forms the base of the ANC’s power.

·         Do Soweto residents give any thought to the idea that the foreign shopkeepers are more profitable that their local counterparts?  That profitability probably derives from their understanding that lower prices usually translate into higher sales, meaning that the exclusion of the foreign shopkeepers means that they will pay a higher price for their goods.  This failure of understanding is, of course, endemic in the ANC, which is setting national economic policy on the basis that the world owes the ANC a free ride.

·         What is the immigration policy of the ANC?  Anyone who has attempted to obtain a work visa for a highly-qualified German engineer, or any of the hundreds of skills that are in desperate need in the country, will know that the process is long and slow, and extremely uncertain, often to the extent that it is easier to establish the part of the company that needs these skills outside South Africa.  On the other hand, it seems that a qualification as a Pakistani shopkeeper permits almost instant granting of the required visa.  It is hard to imagine that the average foreign shopkeeper in Soweto has undergone the same rigorous tests and approval process that a (White) German engineer would.  Is this another example of the new Apartheid being applied by the ANC Government?  How many of the shopkeeper class have been permitted residence in South Africa in the past twenty years?  Apparently well-founded rumours have it that the total of Pakistanis residing in South Africa is presently about 500 000!  If that figure is even 50% accurate, on what basis were they granted such visas?

·         What exactly is the policy of the Government regarding the establishment of industries in South Africa?  Is it the intention to subject foreign-owned businesses to greater restrictions than locally-owned businesses, such as a need to provide training for local competitors?  This certainly seems the case if Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu is to be believed.  Of course, no-one would doubt the clear statement of an ANC Minister, even if that statement were certain to result in an even greater abhorrence of South Africa as an investment destination than already exists.

·         Where are the Police in the whole story?  It seems that the presence of the Police at the scenes of the attacks on foreigner-owned businesses and the looting of them was more to protect the looters than to stop the looting.  Of course, it seems that the Police felt free to join in the looting.  That this is not unusual is clear from the case of the missing watch, taken from the home of Oscar Pistorius while only Police were present.  It is not remarkable in the South African context that nothing has come of that particular looting, nor that the likely punishment of the Policeman caught on film stealing toilet paper from one of the shops will probably be an administrative penalty (read one week suspension on full pay).  Looting in this country is endemic, ranging from the misuse of State funds to build personal mansions, right down to the theft of rolls of toilet paper, and all forms of looting are equally reprehensible.  When one official gets away with it, all other officials are effectively given a licence to loot and plunder.  The only possible cure for this epidemic is to lock them away and throw away the key.