Xenophobic attacks on foreigners: How South Africans get it all wrong

ZwNews.com

Renowned international human rights lawyer Dr Pedzisai Ruhanya has implored  South Africans to stop the ongoing xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals, saying  the problems bedevilling their country has nothing much to do with foreigners, but structural shortcomings.

He says the attacks have exposed the country’s total failure to diagnose the root of their problems.

Dr Ruhanya adds that the troubles affecting SA today are largely structural problems seated in the political economy of South Africa deeply rooted in Apartheid and post Apartheid rule and has nothing much to do with foreigners.

“It is misleading, huge fallacy to suggest that South Africa has a crisis caused by foreigners, it’s a total failure to diagnose, understand and address the problems of society.

“The problems in SA are structural, institutional and embedded in years of Apartheid, and social inequality,” he says.

The earlier SA authorities address these the better.

Dr Ruhanya maintains that the attacks are not addressing the socio-economic crisis in South Africa, adds that unequal distribution of power and resources in South Africa is not a problem of foreigners.

Meanwhile, another political analyst Elder Mabhunu agrees with Dr Ruhanya, says the failure by Ramaphosa to correct Zuma’s bad governance systems is SA’s biggest undoing.

“Just like President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Zimbabwe, SA’s President, is failing to address the socio-economic ills that were put in place by his predecessor.

“SA is currently treading the same destructive route that Zimbabwe has been following. The economy is getting bad, unemployment rate is raising, corruption is rampant, and inflation is also setting in.

“SA is set for bigger economic troubles that has nothing to do with foreigners if corrective measures are not taken. Attacks on foreign nationals is never the solution,” he says.

Be that as it may, findings by the Zondo Commission so far has revealed rampant mismanagement of state enterprises and deep rooted corruption.

The Zondo Commission is a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of State capture, it is a public inquiry launched by the government of Cyril Ramaphosa in August 2018 to investigate allegations of State capture, corruption, fraud and other allegations in including organs of State in South Africa. It is headed by deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Meanwhile, SA’s economy has been on the downward spiral since former President Jacob Zuma’s reign which was characterized by rampant corruption and state capture. His successor Ramaphosa currently stands accused for failing to dismantle the corrupt system he inherited, and improve the economy.

Political and economic watchers in South Africa have been warning the Ramaphosa administration to holistically deal with the corrupt legacy left behind by Zuma, or else suffer the Zimbabwean fate.