Xenophobia in South Africa is dishonest. It masks itself in tribal identities that are convenient and all together false. People throw accusations around about foreigners stealing jobs, taking our women and perpetrating crimes. Whilst all the above might hold some stretch of truth to it, it’s not why the crimes against African foreigners are perpetuated. As usual with all mass violence across the globe, the answer is always simply, economics. Karl Marx determined that all wars and conflicts will inevitably be about resources and the distribution of those materials.

If South Africans were as concerned with the infiltration of foreigners why don’t they protest at the embassies of these countries and demand full accountability from said countries? If this is about the criminal enterprises, why aren’t they shutting down the drug dens in Hillbrow instead of the easy pickings and legally functioning businesses that is the Somalian spaza shops? And lets not even start on the women issue as the crimes of rape, domestic abuse, murder, HIV and even abandonment remain the strong quandary of South African men. No, all the accusations laid to justify the continued criminal targeting of Somalian shop owners in the townships, are a smoke screen to obfuscate the real reason.

This isn’t about Xenophobia, this is the simple and time honored motivation of greed. It’s a class war within the SMME business class. The overwhelming network of the Somalian spaza shops is way too competitive for the sparsely organised South African spaza shop owners. And instead of adapting to the new model or even aligning themselves with the Somalian operation, rocks and petrol bombs are used to try and scare out the business owners. We are being fed lies about a generic South African hate for our fellow African.

We’ve had Indians and Afrikaaners run businesses in the townships since townships existed. How come only now is it expedient to rip and tear at a community for market share. The Chinese are moving in on prime trafficked locations like taxi ranks across the entire country and continent, where is the outrage, the devastation, the Xenophobia? Who benefits from these specified targeted ‘foreigners’? Follow the money as they say. The manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers all have a real interest in these markets. A large conglomerate of outsiders is surely affecting their bottom line. How come they haven’t said anything concerning these outbursts of specified violence towards the Somalians? We buy eggs, bread, Cold drinks, sweets, cooking oil, tissue, biscuits, flour etc from these spaza shops, how come the producers of these products are silent to this?

There’s a saying that ‘One day the the poor will eat the rich.’ Maybe one day, but what the rich people know for certain is that, ‘The poor will eat the poor, first.’

AUTHOR: ZOLILE NOKWE (FOR KASIBIZ MAHALA)

TWITTER: @FrankGibberish