Xenophobia or Self Defense?

Posted on May 25, 2008 by xenotruth

Xenophobia - an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

The ANC and the local and international press are quick to dismiss the local street action as an unwarrranted violent attack against innocent foreigners, often time calling these foreigners “refugees” who are now being victimized a second time after being “forced to flee” from their home countries. For the most part, this is far from the truth.

Let’s start with these “refugees”. According to UNICEF, “a refugee is someone who has been forced to leave their country because they are unable to live in their home or they fear they will be harmed”. Very few of the 4-6 million “refugees” actually fit this description, the vast majority of them are economic refugees who have come here to obtain a better standard of living and possibly send money back home.

So what happens when the refugees arrive in South Africa? Most of them come here to work, however because South Africa has an unemployment rate of 30-40 percent, work is not guaranteed. They then either compete with locals for the few jobs that are available by working for a fraction of the wage or turn to crime. While a typical casual day laborer would earn about R100 a day, the Zimbabwean will accept half that amount. So now not only is that South African out of work for a day but also the “going rate” for a casual day laborer is going down.

And it isn’t just the casual labor pool that is being overrun by “refugees”.
Last week the gold mine DRDGold reported that the “xenophobia attacks” have reduced production because foreigners make up 38 percent of workforce. Again, this is in a country with a 40 percent unemployment rate. In this case, 38 percent equates to around 500 people. That is 500 South Africans out of work.

Here in South Africa those who are the loudest in their condemnation are also those who are one of the biggest cause in the problem - White South Africans. Nearly every white South African knows of someone who has that gardener from Malawi or maid from Mozambique. These are the same people who claim to be “Proudly South African” and feel all warm inside when they purchase something that is “Proudly South African”. While it is true that it does help when one purchases a locally produced garment rather than a Chinese import, it helps even more when you give a South African a job rather than a “refugee”.

Is it not clear that black South Africans have a reasonable reason to loathe other Africans who decide that they will earn more money in South Africa and come here to take their jobs? How would white South Africans feel if 4 million white Russians came to South Africa and got their job because white Russians are willing to work for less money? What if those Russians called themselves “refugees”, would that make it easier for white South Africans to accept their unemployment?

The simple fact of the matter is that something must be done. Charity should begin at home. Those who are genuine refugees do deserve our protection, but we simply can’t and will not allow our jobs to be taken by those who simply want to live a better life than what they have at home.

Conditions now are ripe for what is currently taking place. Prices of food, electricity, EVERYTHING is skyrocketing while jobs are becoming more and more scarce. This while “refugees” are flooding our country.

These economic refugees must go! Whether they go vertically or horizontally is for them to decide.