April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

My source informed me that large numbers of male Zimbabwean
immigrants go to major roads and other high-density pick-up points, hoping
to be hired as casual workers, rushing to the cars of interested employers
that slow down. “Who gets hired depends on the kind of work there is. For
example, if the work is heavy, those who are stronger stand a better
chance,” he said.
Trusted workers on farms, construction and other projects are often asked
to bring their friends to prospective employers. The wage for a single day
is estimated at R80-R120 ($12-$18), though targets are sometimes
proposed and agreed upon. Other forms of employment include waiting
tables in cafes and restaurants, where average pay is R100 per day plus
tips from clients. Many of the more educated and well spoken
Zimbabweans opt for this type of employment in Durban as well as Cape
Town, if they can obtain it. Road hawkers sell pirated CDs. Domestics are
most often women, earning between R80 and R130 per day, while males
work as cleaners and gardeners for a similar wage. The influx of
immigrants, however, means that jobs are hard to come by and wages
cannot be negotiated upward.
While many South Africans, particularly those in the low-income groups,
expressed sympathy to me about the Zimbabwean predicament, and the
pogroms that infamously symbolise xenophobia against the makwerekwere
(used by interviewees to describe foreigners in a derogatory sense),
xenophobia and racism is nevertheless frequently expressed: “See that
one,” I was informed by one vendor pointing at a DRC car guard, “he is no
better than a monkey, an animal.” However, set against the backdrop of
South Africa’s violent, veiled and subconscious resistance to the
framework of the political economy, xenophobia is undoubtedly a
desperate and ruthless reaction to socio-economic stresses.
As one former government official informed me, “The situation in squatter
camps and townships – it is like a tinderbox – anything could set it off.
People are desperate.”
But even though xenophobia is clear to see in the ‘event’ of the pogroms –
nameless, faceless immigrants, murdered, burnt, beaten and driven out by
enraged masses, it also lurks beneath the reality of daily life for the
‘rightless’, penetrating and informing every choice, claim and opportunity.
Take the exploitation of immigrants by landlords. According to sources,
most immigrants in Khayelitsha’s ‘Harare’ and Kraaifontein’s Wallacedene,
are forced to live in trying and dangerous conditions, most often in
corrugated iron shacks – roasting in summer, and freezing in winter.
“The most common form of accommodation in these areas is shacks (wood
or tin) that are filthy, crowded and very uncomfortable,” said Tyanai
Masiya, a Zimbabwean civil society activist based in Cape Town. “Since
most are either unemployed, temporarily employed and underpaid, living
in small crowded shacks becomes the only option. These shacks, made up
of old and rusty zinc and rotten boards picked at the dump sites, are the
worst kinds of shelter for human beings,” he said.
Immigrants unable to meet lease requirements – such as legal status,
stable employment and funding for deposits – may pay as much as R350-
R400 per room monthly for accommodation costing South African citizens
R150. Where immigrants cannot finance the cost, they are allowed four to
a shack room at R150 – R200 per head.