Xenophobia in SA: ‘media should take the blame'

“Where in the world do you see a press that calls foreigners ‘aliens' in their headlines and constantly rush to print stories based on hearsay without proper investigation if they involve foreigners?” a high school teacher immigrant, who begged not to be identified for fear of victimisation, told Bizcommunity.com.

‘Should be held accountable'

“Whatever these xenophobic newspapers' agenda was, I think they have succeeded in turning their brothers and sisters against us and if this massacre turns out like the Rwanda genocide, they should be properly investigated and held accountable for fuelling the violence,” a Congolese refugee, who attends a local university, said.

“The people here are jealous of us, and people and newspapers are always saying that ‘foreigners did this, foreigners did that, foreigners are the criminals, and foreigners rape our women'. So they attacked us - and stole everything, except what I have here,” Mozambican Solomon Chibebe told The Sunday Independent.

The SA Media Monitoring Project (MMP), which monitors media content on a daily basis, echoed some of these immigrants' sentiments. “There are certain sections of print media that must be found guilty of xenophobia due to anti-foreign stereotypes created in their daily reporting,” MMP executive director William Bird told Bizcommunity.com last night.

Bird said that this form of reporting - fuelling xenophobia - must be condemned as it violates the Constitution and the SA Press Code. “Our Constitution preaches the right to dignity and equality for all, and clearly they are ignoring it. They must also read the Press Code very carefully,” he said.

Praised some media outlets

Nevertheless, he praised some media outlets for what it called balanced and fair reporting on the latest xenophobia attacks. “They have done a fantastic job out there by condemning xenophobia and giving us responsible reporting on the latest xenophobic attacks,” Bird said.

Meanwhile, a campaign called ‘Trust no South African' will soon kick off in Joburg, whereby immigrants will be visited door-to-door, warning them not to trust their black South African neighbours, as they can quickly turn from angels to vicious killers and rapists within seconds, a source told Bizcommunity.com.

“It is true. They must be warned that these people are not to be trusted. Look at me. My neighbours, with whom I lived in peace for the past 15 years, burned down our shack, chased us out and stole our property. Thank God, my two kids and I are still alive,” Maria Dos Santos, a Mozambican woman now sheltering at the Primrose police station, said.

More than 20 000 people have already fled the ‘Slaughter House', as many African immigrants now call SA.

Ironically, on 25 May the continent celebrated Africa Day, the 45th anniversary of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the ancestor of the current African Union, amid the xenophobic troubles blighting the ‘Slaughter House'.

For more

• Sunday Times: How the media stoked the fires