I can’t believe that we have to talk about xenophobia again.
But I worry that it might rear its ugly head yet again, and this time the fires are being unwittingly stoked by people who have a lot of influence.
This time, the xenophobia is subtly implied, disguised as something innocent, but if we are not careful it will spiral into the ugliness that we have seen before.
Last week the EFF’s Julius Malema forced himself into a meeting with a Joburg restaurant owner to demand that South African job seekers be given preference over foreign nationals.
Last year, he was equally passionate about our African brothers and sisters, insisting that they must not be chased away.
He said one of the non-negotiable, cardinal pillars of the EFF is that they are for a united Africa.
“We can’t unite Africa by dividing it,” he said.
But his actions last week were very clearly divisive.
Malema claims not to have changed his tune and that he is simply concerned about the high unemployment rate among South African youth.
It is definitely a sentiment that I can get behind.
But I cannot get behind the showmanship that is being employed to achieve this aim.
It strikes me as being politically self-serving.
It is taking a very serious matter that should be high on the agenda of our national government, and twisting it for the sake of votes.
More importantly, it can be easily misinterpreted by Malema’s angry young electorate.
And that is my main concern, foreign nationals being chased down in the street and being assaulted or worse.
This is manipulating the issue of high unemployment, which should be seriously addressed by our political leadership, of which Malema is a member, and shifting responsibility.
It is a dangerous game that could end up costing lives.
As if foreign nationals aren’t also victims of crime, as it is.
Another video made the rounds on this issue on social media last week.
It is by the Soweto activist Nhlanhla Lux, in which he more directly blames illegal foreign nationals for almost all of the crime plaguing our country.
This despite him starting his video by saying: “We don’t believe Africans can be foreigners in Africa,” but then going on to call them exactly that.
Of course politicians using strong, passionate and colourful language is nothing new, and can usually be tolerated, but only if one of the possible outcomes isn’t mass violence.
The Rwanda and Myanmar’s Rohingya genocides should be cautionary tales of the consequences some propaganda can have.
Deliberately or not, their words can be easily misinterpreted, with catastrophic results.
Instead of these publicity stunts, Malema and Lux should’ve addressed this issue at a higher level, asking pertinent questions and working towards a broad solution.
Using foreign nationals in our country as a scapegoat for a crisis that isn’t of their doing, is cheap and dangerous, because it could result in our disenfranchised youth channelling their anger and despair at the wrong source.
Or maybe that is the aim all along.