Posted by Madibeng Kgwete: 16 August 2010
Want to talk forgiveness, racial tolerance, social cohesion and justice? Okay, good – just don’t go on a tour of Constitution Hill. Go somewhere else.
Admittedly, though, the tour guides are good at calming down tempers. And the skill occasionally comes handy during a tour of this national heritage site.
Built on the site of a former prison complex, the Constitution Hill invokes painful memories of South Africa’s past and brings into sharp perspective the brutality of the apartheid system.
To have the Constitutional Court of a free and democratic South Africa based at the site of this apartheid prison complex seems almost paradoxical, for here you have prejudice and justice under one roof.
The tour guides have a line for it: “We’ve taken the bricks that used to imprison us to build a future for our country, to guard against the possibility of the injustices that happened here recurring.”
But that hardly makes up for the humiliation suffered here by black prisoners, some of whom were common law criminals, but many more of whom were political prisoners.
The crimes committed by inmates at this complex varied from shoplifting to one being a member of a banned political organisation, such as the ANC, PAC or the SACP. Some were arrested for not carrying “passes”, others for brewing traditional beer whilst black (a crime during apartheid).
The reasons for the hundreds imprisoned at the Number Four Prison varied, and the variation also extended to the way inmates were treated: if you were black, humiliation and torture awaited you; if you were white, relative luxury.
The intention seems to have been to break the spirit of black resistance to apartheid, but some mavericks within the black anti-apartheid movement upheld their opposition to the system, despite the harsh and unjust punishment.
Robert Sobukwe’s words of resistance are immortalised in the former prison: “We refuse to plead because our contention is that the law under which we are charged is a law made exclusively by the white man, specifically for the oppression of blacks.”
The story of the Number Four Prison, including the discrimination inside, is better told by the former inmates themselves. These include such famous political figures as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Sobukwe, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Helen Joseph and more.
Others, like former inmate Cornelius Manoto, are not well known, but their stories are not less alarming: “To eat from rusted containers was terrible; not to speak of the treatment from warders. Every morning we would stand in the shade feeling cold not even seeing the sunshine. In the court we will be stripped naked and subjected to utter humiliation of the worst order.”
Barbara Hogan, another former inmate, explains the racial preferential treatment: “This cell (in the white section of the Women’s Jail) was like none other I had ever known. A Van Gogh interior, wooden floors, sash windows, three simple beds, a table and chairs. Freezing cold, certainly, but compared to police cells, absolute luxury.”
Those who envisaged the concept of a Constitutional Court at the site of an apartheid prison complex say the project symbolizes South Africa’s intricate and painful journey from apartheid to freedom.
The transition was unprecedented in its efficiency, but the wounds are still fresh, and a lamentation by a former inmate betrays the apparent peace that exists between our past and our present.
Writing in a book on the Constitution Hill project, Mapping Memory, former inmate John Moeketsi Mahapa says: “What we fought for all those years has not been achieved. Our people still live in appalling poverty, there are no jobs, people have no houses and worst of all, many of our people are landless.”
NB: Article written following a tour of the Constitutional Hill on Friday, 13 August 2010.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Xenophobia is a global phenomenon
Posted by Madibeng Kgwete: 04 August 2010
Clampdown on illegal immigrants; foreign workers without work permits employed in hotels, golf estates, spas and restaurants; immigration reform.
You’d think that these words describe the situation in South Africa following the recent 2010 FIFA World Cup – but no. They describe an ongoing debate on illegal immigration and subsequent court battles in the state of Arizona, United States.
Earlier this year, in April, the state of Arizona passed a bill authorising police to detain people they reasonably suspect of being in the country illegally. The bill is being challenged through the courts following intervention by President Barack Obama’s federal government.
Elsewhere in the world, the situation is not much different.
In countries such as Italy, France, the United Kingdom and others, the issue of illegal immigration is also uppermost in national agendas, often used as points of contention amongst political rivals, especially during elections.
The United Nations has acknowledged that, whilst having the potential to improve human welfare and development, international migration can also provoke social tensions, drive political extremes and fan the flames of discrimination and hatred.
Significantly, and of great relevance to the plight of migrants in South Africa, the UN acknowledges that migrations cannot be addressed unilaterally. Countries of origin of migrants as well as destination countries have to take responsibility.
South Africa, as the economic powerhouse of Africa, is a magnet for migrants from other parts of the continent, including those fleeing conflict in areas such as Somalia, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to economic migrants from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland.
Given South Africa’s own socio-economic challenges (Statistics South Africa revealed recently that unemployment has gone up to 25.3%), the presence of a large number of migrants overstretches the country’s already limited resources and exposes the poor to competition for these limited resources.
The solution to this conundrum is not as easy as sending troops of military personnel and police officers to bring calm. The calm brought about in this manner is often temporary.
A long-term solution to resolve recurring rifts between native citizens and foreign nationals would require efforts internally (ie, by government and citizens alike) as well as externally (between government and its counterparts on the continent and the world).
South Africa, as a signatory to relevant international protocols governing migration – and in keeping with the letter and spirit of its own constitution – is bound to uphold the prescriptions of those protocols.
Our Bill of Rights says “everyone (not just South Africans, but everyone) has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected”.
Being the new democracy that we are, there are lessons we need to learn on managing migration, both administratively and in terms of broadening our knowledge of the phenomenon.
Every year government detains those deemed to be in the country illegally and deports them to their countries of origin. But the magnitude of the problem seems to overwhelm the deportations.
It is therefore appropriate that government employs a heavy-handed approach to those attempting extra-legal ways to deal with immigration through so-called street justice.
Those who take the law into their own hands and violently chase migrants out of communities are rightfully treated as criminals, hence the recent superficial debate on government’s reluctance to describe the latest tensions as “xenophobic”.
Everyone admits that there are illegal immigrants that exploit holes in our systems to elude justice; and some of them are aided by corrupt officials on the one hand and some bribe-prone South Africans on the other.
One of the allegations against illegal African immigrants is that they take “our houses”, but some of the houses are actually rented out or sold by South African citizens.
Whilst governments have their own roles to play in managing immigration, we also have our own part to play as ordinary South Africans to tackle the problem.
One of the things communities need to learn is the fact that the many immigrants making their way into South Africa do not do so out of choice.
The UN High Commission for Refugees captures the issue aptly, saying: “Behind the dramatic headlines and the striking images of people on the move, there are personal stories of courage, tragedy and compassion.”
Also published on News24: http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/YourStory/Illegal-immigration-battles-20100804
Clampdown on illegal immigrants; foreign workers without work permits employed in hotels, golf estates, spas and restaurants; immigration reform.
You’d think that these words describe the situation in South Africa following the recent 2010 FIFA World Cup – but no. They describe an ongoing debate on illegal immigration and subsequent court battles in the state of Arizona, United States.
Earlier this year, in April, the state of Arizona passed a bill authorising police to detain people they reasonably suspect of being in the country illegally. The bill is being challenged through the courts following intervention by President Barack Obama’s federal government.
Elsewhere in the world, the situation is not much different.
In countries such as Italy, France, the United Kingdom and others, the issue of illegal immigration is also uppermost in national agendas, often used as points of contention amongst political rivals, especially during elections.
The United Nations has acknowledged that, whilst having the potential to improve human welfare and development, international migration can also provoke social tensions, drive political extremes and fan the flames of discrimination and hatred.
Significantly, and of great relevance to the plight of migrants in South Africa, the UN acknowledges that migrations cannot be addressed unilaterally. Countries of origin of migrants as well as destination countries have to take responsibility.
South Africa, as the economic powerhouse of Africa, is a magnet for migrants from other parts of the continent, including those fleeing conflict in areas such as Somalia, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to economic migrants from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland.
Given South Africa’s own socio-economic challenges (Statistics South Africa revealed recently that unemployment has gone up to 25.3%), the presence of a large number of migrants overstretches the country’s already limited resources and exposes the poor to competition for these limited resources.
The solution to this conundrum is not as easy as sending troops of military personnel and police officers to bring calm. The calm brought about in this manner is often temporary.
A long-term solution to resolve recurring rifts between native citizens and foreign nationals would require efforts internally (ie, by government and citizens alike) as well as externally (between government and its counterparts on the continent and the world).
South Africa, as a signatory to relevant international protocols governing migration – and in keeping with the letter and spirit of its own constitution – is bound to uphold the prescriptions of those protocols.
Our Bill of Rights says “everyone (not just South Africans, but everyone) has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected”.
Being the new democracy that we are, there are lessons we need to learn on managing migration, both administratively and in terms of broadening our knowledge of the phenomenon.
Every year government detains those deemed to be in the country illegally and deports them to their countries of origin. But the magnitude of the problem seems to overwhelm the deportations.
It is therefore appropriate that government employs a heavy-handed approach to those attempting extra-legal ways to deal with immigration through so-called street justice.
Those who take the law into their own hands and violently chase migrants out of communities are rightfully treated as criminals, hence the recent superficial debate on government’s reluctance to describe the latest tensions as “xenophobic”.
Everyone admits that there are illegal immigrants that exploit holes in our systems to elude justice; and some of them are aided by corrupt officials on the one hand and some bribe-prone South Africans on the other.
One of the allegations against illegal African immigrants is that they take “our houses”, but some of the houses are actually rented out or sold by South African citizens.
Whilst governments have their own roles to play in managing immigration, we also have our own part to play as ordinary South Africans to tackle the problem.
One of the things communities need to learn is the fact that the many immigrants making their way into South Africa do not do so out of choice.
The UN High Commission for Refugees captures the issue aptly, saying: “Behind the dramatic headlines and the striking images of people on the move, there are personal stories of courage, tragedy and compassion.”
Also published on News24: http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/YourStory/Illegal-immigration-battles-20100804
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