‘Strongmen’ rise to fill governance void in S Africa’s shantytowns

Despite the presence and promises of South Africa’s police minister Bheki Cele just hours before, the 'witch's brew' of runaway crime, historically high unemployment and poor governance boiled over Wednesday night in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, leaving a 43-year-old Zimbabwean man burnt to death.

Cele, back in the area for the second day in a row, said on Thursday that despite the latest murder, police were fulfilling pledges made to the community 24 hours earlier.

The situation in Diepsloot was not "out of control", he insisted, despite the brutal murder of the Zimbabwean, named as Elvis Nyati, by a mob, adding that over 20 people had been arrested overnight.

The dead man's shocked wife and sister said the mob had demanded money, and had taken their last cash before burning him to death.

After day-long protests and demands that the minister hear their pleas, Cele had addressed Diepsloot's unhappy residents late Wednesday.

Enhanced policing

He promised enhanced policing, more police vans and a task force to address violent crimes.

Community leaders insist that "foreigners" are the main source of the crimes that plague this poverty-hit community, with unemployment higher than the national average.

The informal settlement, which emerged relatively recently, has had little policing, like many others in the country, and gets poor to no services from the local government. This is a longstanding issue that, before Covid-19, was driving around 13 'service delivery protests' countrywide daily.

With yet another killing over the weekend, Diepsloot's residents said they had had enough, with at least seven unresolved murders in recent months.

With similar attacks against Africans born outside South Africa (SA) taking place in other places, concern is growing that another wave of xenophobia is underway, threatening to explode nationally.

In late March, more than 400 Zimbabwean families were chased from their homes in the usually sleepy southern Cape rural town of Bredasdorp, indicating that the problem is not restricted to the high-density settlements of urban centres.

In previous rounds of xenophobic violence, thousands of Somalis, Zimbabweans, Malawians, Congolese and others have been attacked, their businesses and homes looted and burnt and dozens killed.

This latest round appears to be developing spontaneously, according to leading analysts of the phenomenon.

But some populist leaders and their movements are taking advantage of the government's inability to satisfy the demands of disgruntled citizens struggling with unemployment and poverty, which have been aggravated by the impact of Covid-19.

Anti-foreigner violence

Sporadic anti-foreigner violence is a particular problem in SA for several reasons, Prof Loren B Landau, director of the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University in Johannesburg, told Nation.Africa.

"There are several reasons, one being the historic use of migrants to undermine local people, another is the widespread economic frustration of the many unemployed, plus high levels of criminality and poor governance, all combining."

Asked whether the attacks – which seemed to pick up after an outbreak of incidents in low-income areas of Johannesburg last month under the flag of a new group called Operation Dudula – are organised, Prof Landau said it appeared to be the case.

"The literature and media engagement being put out by Operation Dudula is much more sophisticated than previously seen – there may well be elements using the populace's discontent at current circumstances to drive their own agendas,” he said.

"With the ruling party (African National Congress) losing support and the government unable to make meaningful impacts in poverty- and crime-ridden communities, there is a rise of local leaders and groups attempting to step into the void."

A prior example took place in the late 2000s, when SA had one of its worst bouts of xenophobia, with many migrants left dead or permanently uprooted.

In the impoverished settlement of Atteridgeville, outside the administrative capital Pretoria, the lack of police and state structures led to "a fellow by the name of Geoff taking charge", said the professor.

Crime-stressed communities

"For a while, the area taken over, in the stead of the state, was called 'Geoffville'," said Prof Landau, who agreed with the assessment that semi-feudal 'strongmen' and their followers were emerging in economically deprived and crime-stressed communities to fill a vacuum of governance and control.

"These groupings are based on patronage and 'safety' that seems to be offered in a situation where the electoral system of SA leaves public representatives – especially at the local government level – loyal to their party and not the people they are supposed to represent," he added.

This is one of the reasons that renewed 'service delivery protests' have appeared to spontaneously combine in impoverished communities with anti-foreigner and anti-crime sentiments to cause the latest manifestation of xenophobia.

For the angry residents of Diepsloot, there is no 'wider agenda' than forcing the government to deal with what they see as their "foreigner problem".

Some 3.5 to five million foreigners live and work in SA, many undocumented. These are the people Operation Dudula says it is targeting. They are blamed for the lack of jobs that has resulted in unemployment of over 46 percent.

But, as Prof Landau points out, foreigner numbers in SA have not grown much since about 2012, when they reached their highest levels, meaning that it was a fallacy that foreigners had any meaningful impact on widespread joblessness.

Economists say the root of unemployment is the lack of economic growth, driven by corruption, poor governance and wastage of public funds.

Meanwhile, an apparent effort by Operation Dudula leader, Nhlanhla 'Lux' Mohlauli (aka 'Lux' Dlamini), to "hijack" their protests has been rejected by the Diepsloot community.

Charged recently with alleged assault and malicious property damage, Mohlauli had been going under the name Dlamini before his subsequent court appearance.

Rampant crime

Mohlauli visited Diepsloot on Wednesday afternoon following the protests there over rampant crime and the police minister's visit.

Community leader Andrew Malaka was quoted as saying: "Nhlanhla Lux is confusing the community because he's coming from Soweto to check what the community is doing.

"I think he's seen it (the community's protest) on the news, then he (has) come here. This is (why) I call him a hijacker because (before) he was not here. He wanted to hijack, to be popular with this thing.

"We are not fighting for anything besides the service delivery in Diepsloot."

Abraham Mabuke, the local ward councillor, denied that the local government had failed to address criminality and service delivery issues, but said the underlying problem was a lack of policing resources, which had now been addressed by the police minister's allocation of additional officers and vehicles.

Last August, Diepsloot was the scene of community protests against Mabuke, amid claims that residents had endured up to three months of no electricity and little service delivery, with community leader Jaden Moreo adding: "People do not want councillor Mabuke. He’s been the councillor for the past 10 years and he has not delivered."