Constant Flux

For a long time, government has indirectly condoned the influx of foreigners by taking a soft stance on illegal immigration, and by denying that there actually is any problem.

Now that xenophobic violence is tearing the country apart, government is doing a stunningly bad job of communicating it’s position to it constituency. Words won’t stem the flow of violence any more, only actions will.

The one option is a call for “targeted intervention”. That’s politico-speak for sending in the army and putting down the resistance - to use those trained to kill to defend our country, against our own people.

Another option is the mass deportation of these people. I think that would be a crime against humanity. They have fled here from even greater danger. To them, this was a safe refuge. Even now you hear reports of people claiming that they would rather die in SA than in their country of origin, that it is still safer here, despite the violence.

These are good, productive people. This morning I heard part of an interview on 702. They were interviewing some of the people sheltering at the Germiston civic center. They had organized a school! Even with no future, they organized a school to ensure that whatever happens, their children are still being educated.

Nobody is getting punished for these attacks, since the victims are either dead, or too afraid of being arrested for being illegal aliens to report the crimes.

There must be a better alternative. I therefore think that the only way to stem the violence will be for government to grant amnesty to all illegal aliens in South Africa, and to do so loudly and publicly.

South Africa has always been a nation of many peoples. What better message can the government project than to say that we are all South Africans?