Foreigners who are residents in the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg were beaten by South Africans yesterday on the reported basis that the foreigners are depriving South Africans of job opportunities. Who is right and who is wrong?

There is no denying the fact that there are many foreigners in South Africa today and there are a large number of them who have entered South Africa illegally. Many maybe Zimbabweans but there are also foreigners from Malawi, Mozambique, DRC and other African countries who are moving to South Africa in order for them to seek a better living. But many yesterday may have wished that they were back in their home country rather than being beaten and assaulted. One has to feel for the South Africans as they are missing out on job opportunities in their own country because of foreigners, but do they really have to beat and assault other human beings?

What then would be the solution for this mess that is brewing? Yesterdays attacks were a sign that there could be something potentially big brewing under the surface. This is an issue that should not be ignored and swept under the carpet but rather something should be done about this. This has potential to escalate and turn into serious violence.

Illegal foreigners are a problem and should not be allowed in South Africa. More efforts should be done in order to curb the inflow if illegal foreigners in South Africa. This is easier said than done. One can only wonder how many illegal foreigners are in South Africa today and it would be an almost impossible task to get them all out of South Africa. Some of these illegal foreigners bring in skills to the South Africa workforce which are needed in South Africa. One has to look at how businesses in South Africa conduct their business today; they could be the largest contributors to the influx of illegal foreigners in South Africa today.

Businesses owners have the objective of running successful businesses and making profits. They need people who are able to get the job done. If an illegal foreigner comes to them and says they can do the job they require chances are high that the business will hire them. There are two reasons they may hire this foreigner: the may have been unable to find a South Africa with the required skills to get the job done or they could find a South African and foreigner who could do the job but realise that they could pay the foreigner much less than the South African would ask for and thus opt to higher the foreigner for a lower rate as that would save them in monetary terms. It is said that illegal foreigners are an opportunity of cheap labour and thus business hire them.

So when South Africans say that foreigners are taking their jobs it is understandable and the businesses are the ones to blame. If the businesses enforced that they do not hire illegal foreigners then the foreigners would have no opportunities to work. If they have no opportunities then they would not illegal come to South Africa in the large drones they are currently coming in now.

The problem then stems if those who were beaten yesterday in Alexandra were legally in South Africa, chances are they may not have been legal. But if one has the right to be in South Africa and to work in South Africa then as South Africans, that has to be respected and certainly beating them up is not acceptable. Even beating those up who are illegal should not be done. The authorities should be responsible for getting rid of the illegal foreigners but the public seem to think that the authorities are not doing their job and are thus taking matters into their own hands as we have seen in Alexandra.

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