Schwartzerwitz: Heavy police presence creates panic

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Heavy police presence creates panic

JOHANNESBURG - A heavy presence of police in central Johannesburg has sent many Zimbabwean immigrants here panicking, fearing this could herald the beginning of a campaign to round up them for deportation back to Zimbabwe.

The police deployment appeared heaviest in the Hillbrow and Berea areas of Johannesburg, districts notorious for crime but also the home of the majority of Zimbabweans living in Johannesburg. “What is happening here is scary. There has been a heavy presence of police in the last few weeks. My stay here is becoming a nightmare as police openly declare they are ready to arrest undocumented Zimbabweans,” said Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu of Berea.

South Africa has given Zimbabwean immigrants up to December 31 to obtain permits to stay here or face deportation.

But the Pretoria authorities have said they will not resume deportations immediately after expiry of the deadline to give time for the home affairs department to process the tens of thousands of applications for permits submitted by immigrants.

Police authorities say increased patrols in Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa are normal to combat crime during the festive season.

But Monica Tagwireyi, a Zimbabwean living in Johannesburg, was not convinced especially because junior police officers – who have been accused of extorting money from illegal immigrants – have reportedly been publicly boasting that they will be rounding up all Zimbabweans with permits to stay in South Africa for deportation. Tagwireyi said: “I am scared as I applied for my passport but I have failed to obtain in the six we were told it would take to process them.”

- The Zimbabwean

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Every Pogrom needs an Armband....

Welcome to Schwartzerwitz. The inevitable consequence of 4 million illegal immigrants arriving in South Africa. More desperate than our local folk they are willing to work longer harder faster for less. The immigrants are more reliable than South African unskilled labour and have outcompeted the local folk. No matter what anyone says it's not FAIR on our locals. Adding 4 million hungry mouths to the country has exacerbated the rocketing food prices felt across the globe. Adding 4 million potential electricity users to the mix has undoubtedly worsened the electricity situation. Having 4 million people send home money to their family drains the economy of money which should stay within the borders. Adding 4 million people and not registering them as taxpayers has cost the country billions. What chance does our government of ridding the country of shacks as per the Millennium Development Goal when 4 million immigrants build/rent shacks. Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe....? Just move to a shack in South Africa. On an individual basis this site condemns violent acts against individuals. However as a collective the illegal immigrants deserve no sympathy and should be deported back from whence they came. These people are economic refugees - "not real refugees" - and they are(generally speaking) in South Africa illegally.

kwerekwere.

The inside cover of my Oxford English dictionary features a word with which I have become all too familiar: the word is kwerekwere.

(It may be more familiar to you with one of its vernacular language–dependant prefixes prepended — the Sotho singular being le– and plural ma–, the Nguni singular being i– and plural ama–). This word is used to refer to black (in the morphological sense) Africans who are not South Africans — South African being defined as Sotho, Nguni, Venda and Tsonga ethnic groups (by that measure the Swazis, Batswana, etc. would be South African?). This word has a very negative sting to it and is often used with contempt. From what I gather it has undertones which speak of how black Africans are believed to be sub–human, too dark and have a pungent smell.