South Africa has never been a place where ethnicity and violence did not tie itself into politics and protests. A third explosive dimension to the local ethnic tensions has developed in South Africa in the last 12 days, where immigrants from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Somalia and other African nations were attacked by local South Africans east of Johannesburg. Now spreading towards Cape Town and other South African cities, more than 10,000 migrants who came to Africa's most prosperous nation for employment are being targeted for taking away local jobs and preventing local South Africans from obtaining work in their own country.
Much of the tensions arose from area of South Africa where lower income residents and those areas that were neglected during the apartheid are located outside of South Africa's largest cities. Many of those communities have had a difficult time reintegrating into the South African economy and are often linked to specific ethnic groups residing in the country. Many of the migrants were found due to their accent and their intermediate knowledge of the Zulu language, according to IHT.com's article Mob Violence Achieves its Aim in South Africa. While more than 10,000 migrants plan to escape the mob violence in the country, to date 42 migrants have been killed and more than 6,000 have been displaced in Johannesburg alone, with a further 25,000 leaving their homes.
Suspicions of the cause of the tensions have placed accusations on local political leaders and organizations, but the response from South Africa's government has been to send in the police and anti-riot forces to quell the violence. The reputation of South Africa is at stake and as the Foreign Minister commented, it gives the country a "Very Bad Image", to say the least. As violence continues, many will think twice before taking residence in Africa's most prosperous nation.
2 Comments So Far»
So I have no idea if it will be seen or read. Maybe I am being selfish and running out of patience. I am married to a very wonderful woman for over 2 years and have made a half dozen trips back and forth to the Philippines to be with her. We applied for a visitation Visa and was denied based on her might not returning back to the Philippines to our daughter and family. We were told to file for an immigration Visa in order for her to visit the USA, time and money was spent on the visitation Visa. So since we have filed for an immigration Visa. We patiently wait for the papers to go through the mail to city after city to a different agency and then sent back with errors that the processors are making. My wife is now 7 months pregnant and I am sure there are millions of other people trying to immigrate to the USA. However so much of the paperwork is duplicated and sent to so many agencies that it is bond to be lost or have errors. With the diplomacy and the ties that the USA and the Philippines have had for over 100 years you would think that the process of married couples with children would not have to be abused by the system that is suppose to look out for humanity. Hoping that someone have a heart and concern to see that immigration reform happens sooner then later. Sorry for trying to be an extra burden but I seem to have run out of options. It is amazing that a foreign worker can obtain a visa in half the time a married couple with children can.
Likely in most cases the foreign worker is either under a special program or has a letter from an employer stating the neccesily for the employee over a local employee and has their support from within the country from the employer. Usually married couples with children need to show that they are not entering a country to be an “economic migrant”, ie, showing that the US in this case is not accepting people because of poor economic conditions in another country as it costs the US alot of money to take on unemployed people in foreign lands. I dont think this is your case perse…but I do think you need to speak to some immigration lawyers, and get second opinions on how to deal with you case as filing numerous times and not getting anywhere is a sign of either poor professionalism on those who are helping you or giving advice, a sign that you might not meet the requirements to immigrate (not sure if you are referring to simply your wife, or all of your family not being citizens), or confusion in dealing with many processes, organisations and papers. In reality ties between countries do help, but does not make one a citizen. Even Canadians going to the US need to apply for documents and immigrate as anyone else..even though they have very close ties, a similar culture and for the most part language and level of development. I agree that people who do not abuse the system do not always benefit from their honesty, but when we visit or move to another country as foreign nationals we do not have the right to be there, but must ask for permission from those who live and work in their home country. I wish I knew in detail more about your case…It sounds very frusterating indeed.
Leave Comments Below»