Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines Année Universitaire : 2019/2020 Master Mention Lettres et Langues Spécialité recherche, monde anglophone The Perception of African Migrants in Post-Apartheid South Africa Omar AKMOUM Mémoire de Master 2 Sous la direction de : Dr Sandra SAAYMAN Maîtresse de conférences HDR en littérature sud-africaine 2019/2020 2 Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines Année Universitaire : 2019/2020 Master Mention Lettres et Langues Spécialité recherche, monde anglophone The Perception of African Migrants in Post-Apartheid South Africa Omar AKMOUM Mémoire de Master 2 Sous la direction de: Dr Sandra SAAYMAN Maîtresse de conférences HDR en littérature sud-africaine 2019/2020 3 “A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Dr Sandra SAAYMAN for her constant support as my supervisor. This Memoir has been challenging and even though Dr SAAYMAN’s field of research is South African literature, she contributed greatly to my work, through her profitable criticism and helpful advice, and thus since 2016. I am thankful as well to all the professors and doctors for their critics, among them Professor LANDAU. I also wish to thank the South African Department of Home Affairs, for the documents they provided me. I am grateful to my mother and for support she provided during my research. 6 TECHNICAL NOTES and ACRONYMS ACMS: African Centre for Migration and Society. ADF: African Diaspora Forum. AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. ANC: African National Congress. ART: Antiretroviral. ASGISA: Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa. ATDF: All Truck Drivers Foundation AU: African Union, previously known as the Organisation of African Unity. BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, economic developing countries. COSATU: Congress of South African Trade Unions. DA: Democratic Alliance. DHA: Department of Home Affairs. EFF: Economic Freedom Fighters. FEDUSA: Federation of Unions of South Africa. FRELIMO: the Mozambique Liberation Front. GEAR: The Growth, Employment, and Redistribution plan. HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HDI: Human Development Index. ILO: International Labour Organization. IOM: International Organisation for Migration. IRIN: Integrated Regional Information Networks. JIPSA: Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition. MK: Umkhonto weSizwe. MPLA: the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola. NACTU: National Council of Trade Unions. NDH: National Department of Health. NEDLAC: National Economic Development and Labour Council. NP: Afrikaner National Party. OAU: Organisation of African Unity. OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OCHA: United Nations Office for Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs. PAIGC: the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde. PAC: Pan African Congress. SADC: Southern African Development Community. SADF: South African Defence Force. SAMWU: South African Municipal workers’ Union. SANDF: South African National Defence Force. SLF: Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation. SPF: Sisonke People’s Forum SWAPO: the South West African People’s Organisation. RENAMO: Mozambican National Resistance. 7 RDP: Reconstruction and Development Programme. RSA: the Republique of South Africa. USA: United States of America. UN: United Nations. UNAOC: United Nation Alliance Of Civilisations. UNDP: United Nation Development Programme. UNHCR: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee. ZAPU: the Zimbabwe African People’s Union. TABLE OF CONTENTS ATTESTATION SUR L’HONNEUR DE NON PLAGIAT 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 TECHNICAL NOTES and ACRONYMS 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS 8 FOREWORD 10 INTRODUCTION 11 I National Protection opposed to Pan-Africanism 14 1. Economic Plan 15 A. Impact of UN Resolutions 16 B. GEAR 18 C. Protectionism and Regulations 20 2. The Symbol of Peace 21 A. ANC in Exile and Pan-African Consciousness 22 B. Stability 24 3. Refugees and Illegal immigrants 26 A. Legal Differentiation 27 B. Identification Act: Migrants vs Citizens 29 II Human Capital Factor 33 1. Workforce 38 A. Cheap Labour 38 B. Brain Drain and Skilled Immigrants 39 C. Precarious Contracts for Unstable Status 40 D. Informal Trade 41 2. Immigration Act of 2002 42 8 A. A Restrictive Bill 43 B. Xenophobic Assumptions 43 C. Conflicts and Debates: Factors for Amendments 45 3. Trade Unions 46 A. The DHA and Trade Unions: The Negotiation Process 46 B. Immigrant Workers a Selective Perception 48 C. Illegal Immigrants the Trade Unions Contradiction 50 III The Rise of Xenophobic Violence 52 1. Public Perception 57 A.The Foreign Aliens 57 B. A Highly Visible Minority 59 C. Justified Criminality? 60 D. Women’s Immigration Experience 64 E. AIDS Epidemic a Foreign Disease 66 F. Immigrants Contribution 69 2. Political Manoeuvres 72 A. 2008’s Overturn 73 B. Xenophobia: Parties’ Voting Cost 76 C. Behind the Condemnations 78 D. Repercussions and Struggle 80 3.“Afrophobia” a Debated Concept 83 A. Afrophobia? 83 B. A Shared Experience 85 CONCLUSION 87 ANNEX 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY 93 Primary Sources 93 Secondary Sources 97 Internet Sources 100 INDEX 101 9 FOREWORD I chose this topic of African migrants and refugees in South Africa as a result of my stay in South Africa 3 years ago. I met with various people, some of whom I innocently labelled as South Africans, but where they were in fact not South Africans. Most of the immigrants I met in Durban were not South African but from Malawi (English speaking), Somalia (Arabic), Angola, Mozambique (Portuguese and Swahili), the Democratic Republic of Congo (French), Egypt (Arabic) and so on. When I sat with them, some spoke to me in French, I indeed had the impression of encountering the rainbow nation. So I observed them and remarked that the majority of them were living in groups, in bad neighbourhoods like Grey Street Complex in Durban. The Congolese, Angolans and the Somalis, every group lived among its ethnicity. There was the block of Congolese people, who were mainly manual workers; they worked as mechanics, for example. The Somalis and Egyptians were salesmen. As for the Nigerians, and Malawians, they worked in offices since English is their official language. Actually, all of them could speak Zulu and English, but the majority were also in the streets: South Africans and immigrants alike, trying to work, love and achieve their “African dream”, as one Nigerian put it. South Africa, from the African immigrant’s perspective, is the most successful country of the continent, it is part of the “BRICS”1. If they have gathered in South Africa it is because they believe in this country. “Mandela is not only South Africa’s president” one said, “he was also the president of all Africans because he cared for his people no matter the language, colour or religion”. And they believe in that ideal, which is why they have come. In fact, they would have preferred to stay in their country too, but they were massacred and lost many relatives during civil wars. “That is why we fled to South Africa to find a place, hope, opportunity, understanding but above all to live”2. 1 BRICS is an acronym for the 5 developing countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) which are of a similar level to developed countries like Europe, Japan and the US. 2 Conversation with an African migrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) in Pietermaritzburg in mid July 2016. 10 INTRODUCTION Migration3 is a major contemporary issue worldwide and usually involves two categories of countries, namely developed (industrialised) and underdeveloped or countries ravaged by war (they are often former colonies). From Latinos in the United States of America to the Africans and Syrians in Europe, migration has been and is still perceived by the USA and Europe as a Western social dilemma. However, it is not a problem only the Western world faces. Indeed, other countries experience this phenomenon, one such country being South Africa. The question of immigration and refugees in South African society is an atypical one and has its own characteristics, not only it is sensitive, but it also leads to controversy, and social to not say “racial” dilemmas in both the political and public sphere. In order to navigate and analyse those dilemmas, a contextual introduction of the contemporary migration crisis in South Africa must be made. As said earlier, migration in South Africa has atypical characteristics. Most of the migrants since 1994 are Africans, and all did not migrate for the same reasons. Indeed, there is economic migration from Nigeria and Angola, to refugees from Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe because of wars and famine. It is then safe to speak about intracontinental migration here. However, for most African individuals exiled in South Africa, migration blends the two concepts as refugees and migrants are categorised as the same by the majority of South African society. This rush of migrants is principally due to the instability of South Africa’s neighbouring countries, as well as the symbols of success, security and economic stability which South Africa embodies in the eyes of the rest of Africa. After the fall of apartheid, which was a segregation system based on race and colour, established by the NP (National Party in 1948), Nelson Mandela with the support of the ANC (African National Congress) implemented a reconciliation policy embodied by the metaphor of the “Rainbow Nation”, in the words of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Thus all South Africans, previously classified as “black,” “white,” “coloured” and “Indian” are to live in unity as equals. 3 Oxford dictionary definition: “Movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions.” 11 One of the early policies of then President Nelson Mandela was to open the country’s border by switching off the electrified fences during the open borders debate of 1994.