Posts by SerenaPillay:
Are the increasing movement of refugees to South Africa adding to the Economic problem?
February 10th, 2013By Serena Pillay.
With the current press release from statistics South Africa February 2013, report analysis show the current unemployment rate of South Africa to be at 4.5 million people in the country.
A recent question that has been asked, or somewhat avoided due to the prevalence of racism and xenophobia in the country is the impact of foreigners on the economy.
Statistics from the United Nations Refugee Agency (end 2011) show that 220,000 asylum seekers have been registered in South Africa mainly from Bangladesh, the Democratic republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Thus concluding South Africa to be the country with the highest annual number of asylum applications worldwide, with 106,904 applications in 2011.
This high rise influx of refugees to South Africa has caused a massive stir of xenophobic fear among the locals as well as notions of a stereotype (considering the scarcity of jobs in the country) that these foreigners are either here as drug merchants or thieves. It has also been argued that immigrants with or without valid documentation are hired by local companies at low wages, who work long hours and are resistant to unionisation thus proving to be a threat to locals as they are forced into job loss or to work under unfavourable working conditions.
How is government tackling the issue of foreign nationals to South Africa? According to the Anc’s new policy documents it is going to be harder for foreign nationals to enter the borders as one of the policies state ‘as a security department, home affairs will contribute to achieving two overriding goals: national security and public safety’ ‘the main challenge currently is that 95% of those claiming asylum in South Africa are not genuine asylum seekers, but rather are looking for work or business opportunities.
The issue of foreign movements into South Africa is indeed a sensitive one as if I were to ask, what if I were in a foreigner seeking better life opportunities in a land that promised more? Being a fourth generation Indian to South Africa I can only imagine what life would like for me living in rural parts of India had my great grandfather not fled, though there are always two sides to the coin and with the economy the way it is increasing movements of foreigners to South Africa holds diar socio economic consequences which are not in favour of the local people. With the escalating crime, poverty as well as unemployment rate things can only get worse if effective measure are not taken to prohibit those seeking better life opportunities as opposed to those who are genuinely seeking asylum.