Paddy O'Halloran, The Daily Maverick
Grahamstown’s month-long unresolved
xenophobic crisis has finally gained international attention. The United
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will convene a meeting in
Grahamstown on Monday morning to address the needs of displaced spaza shop owners
and their families. They have been in limbo since looting on 21 October,
receiving insufficient support, with many unable to go back to their shops in
town.
The UNHCR must take a different
approach to the crisis than local government has. They must treat the affected
people as the authorities on their situation, needs, and experiences. They must
understand the reasons why, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning last week,
a number of affected families held a vigil because of the municipality and police’s
failure to provide for their safety, sustenance, and to treat them “as human
beings.” It is a critical moment. The UNHCR has the opportunity to begin to
resolve the current crisis, but only if the people are their focus.
The precedent set by the South African
Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is grim. On Friday, 20 November, SAHRC held a
meeting for “stakeholders” in Grahamstown’s City Hall, chaired by Commissioner
Aubrey Mdazana. There was hope among the affected people, prior to the meeting,
that SAHRC would finally provide them with support that has been urgently
needed since 21 October. However, descending the staircase in City Hall after
the three hour meeting, two men whose shops were looted called the meeting “a
waste of time.” They said they were finished with the municipality, because it
had not helped them, and was not trying to help them. They said that SAHRC was
no better. “None of them listen,” explained one man.
Grocott’s Mail in Grahamstown reports
that the meeting was marked by “tensions” and by “accusations and
counter-accusations,” but fails to elaborate on their significance. The
“tensions” and “accusations” point to the reasons there remains a crisis in
Grahamstown. Nonetheless, Human Rights commissioner Aubrey Mdazana did not
permit time for the airing of immediately relevant issues that will,
unaddressed, continue to keep people in danger. In particular, he attempted to
contain any criticism of the municipality. This obscures fundamental problems.
First is dishonesty on the part of
officials of Makana Municipality. At Friday’s meeting, Acting Municipal
Manager, Riana Meiring, gave a false account of the municipality’s support and
reintegration of the displaced people. She claimed that they had made “quite a
bit of progress,” and reintegrated most of the shop owners. On the contrary,
say members of the displaced community, those who have re-opened their shops
have done so of their own accord, knowing that the situation in Grahamstown is
still dangerous for them, and that it has not been ameliorated by the
municipality or police. Shop owners had received threats last week that looting
would occur again on 23 November. A week earlier, a shop in Extension 9, that
was emptied on 21 October, was looted again.
People were not “reintegrated;” they
opened shop because they had no choice.
Furthermore, Meiring did not announce
that, on Thursday evening, many of these shop owners had evacuated their stock
once again because of new threats. She did not know how many people were
displaced as of Friday’s meeting. There were “a few,” she said, “50 or 60,”
while the people themselves report over 150. She also claimed that the
municipality had been providing food throughout the month. Displaced people
have denied this, saying instead that food has come from private donations and
from the Red Cross. The municipal officials also did not explain where or how
displaced people would be accommodated going forward, despite informing the
meeting that the deadline for the current accommodation was on Friday, and that
the municipality has no money to continue paying for it. Commissioner Mdazana
was content to summarise that there was “some sort of gentlemen’s agreement”
regarding accommodation, and closed the matter.
The South African Police Service
(SAPS) representative at Friday’s meeting was equally poor. He made no mention
of the local taxi associations, who are known to have instigated the first
round of looting. However, he clearly believed that the threats and evacuations
of Thursday should be blamed on the people who had participated in the vigil.
He described having remonstrated for over an hour on Thursday morning with some
of the demonstrators to stop their actions. Meanwhile, a crowd gathered across
the street, shouting xenophobic insults, and were not confronted by police.
This is consistent with SAPS action both before and during the crisis. They
have made no attempt to prevent or contest xenophobic sentiment in their
community. However, blaming the people who have been threatened for the threats
is a new and contemptible development on the part of SAPS in Grahamstown.
Nevertheless, the SAHRC meeting concluded that the program of reintegration
must be led by the municipality.
Several sermons on unity
notwithstanding, the meeting was blatantly sectarian. In particular, there was
hostility towards Ayanda Kota, Organiser for the Unemployed People’s Movement
(UPM), and representative of the Makana Anti-Xenophobia Concerned Group, a
group formed on 22 October at the offices of Masifunde Education and
Development Project Trust, a local non-governmental organisation. The hostility
was not unique to Friday. Despite working most closely with affected people
during the crisis, Kota and Fundile Mafongosi, director of Masifunde, were thrown
out of a meeting of the Joint Operations Committee (for reintegration) at the
Grahamstown Police Station on 6 November. Kota was among those hopeful that
SAHRC would have made a difference in the current situation.
Friday, Councillor Mabhuti Matyumza of
the African National Congress (ANC), and Mohammed Mooraad sought to silence
Kota, who tried to explain to Commissioner Mdazana how the municipality has
failed the affected people. Both Councillor Matyumza and Mooraad alluded to
someone “destabilising” Grahamstown before elections, with the none-too-subtle
insinuation that Kota was involved. Mooraad also called Kota the representative
of a “false Anti-Xenophobia Group.” However, when a woman among the affected
people was allowed to clarify the situation by Commissioner Mdazana—she would
not have been asked but for a strong suggestion from a member of the
meeting—she said that “only Ayanda” should speak on their behalf.
It should be noted that Councillor
Matyumza is reported by community members to have voiced xenophobic sentiments
to a crowd on the second day of the crisis. In a meeting Friday evening the
affected women shouted him out of the room. In 2011, Mooraad allegedly offered
a bribe for “dirty secrets” that could be used to defame Kota. The bribe is attested
to by affidavit. Moreover, Mooraad appeared alone at the vigil on Wednesday
night, and shouted abuse at the families gathered in front of City Hall. “The
ANC will come for you,” he allegedly told them. Mooraad allegedly rents offices
to the ANC in Grahamstown. Some shop owners also believe that he is buying and
selling looted goods. One Friday no one questioned the legitimacy of either the
councillor or Mooraad as “stakeholders” in this crisis.
There was one glaring exclusion from
the SAHRC “stakeholders” meeting. Only four men and four women of the affected
people were present. They sat in the back, unintroduced. Except for the brief
instance involving Kota, no one, not even Commissioner Mdazana, ask them for
input in a meeting which directly affected their lives. Commissioner Mdazana
and others frequently referred to them as “non-nationals.” In the street after
the meeting, one of the men said, “We are not ‘non-nationals.’ We are South
African nationals.” Indeed, most are South African citizens.
The absence of most of the affected
people was not an oversight. At the start of the meeting, the Commissioner for
Gender Equality had asked, “Where are the women?” The four women had not yet
arrived. Throughout the past month, while many of the men have been isolated in
temporary accommodation outside of town, the women have been working closely
with UPM and Masifunde to arrange for food and supplies, and to develop plans
for reintegration. The women have done infinitely more than any commission or
organisation—more than anyone, in fact—to regain their place in the community.
After Friday’s meeting, the women were found at Masifunde’s offices, angry
because they had been told the venue at City Hall was full. Upstairs, some
twenty seats had been empty.
The UNHCR need to succeed where SAHRC
failed. When the UNHCR representatives come to Grahamstown on Monday, they
should speak first to the shop owners and their families. These are the only
“stakeholders” to consider. The UNHCR should compile their own data regarding
the numbers of displaced people and their needs, based on the people’s
knowledge, not on Makana municipality or SAPS officials' word.
The crisis in Grahamstown has
continued because local government have not responded appropriately and have
not treated the affected people with respect. It has continued because of
disreputable and manipulative local political and business interests that are
deeply hostile towards those who are helping the affected people and towards
some of the people themselves. Real progress has been thwarted by these
interests. The UNHCR cannot allow this situation to continue. After the United
Nations, to whom can the people turn for assistance?
