The ethnic cleansing of African migrants from Riebeek Kasteel

Riebeek Kasteel is one of South Africa’s oldest towns, founded by Dutch settlers in the 17th century. It is located just 80 kilometres northeast of Cape Town, in the Boland region, the agricultural heartland of the Western Cape. Famous for its Cape Dutch architecture, olive groves, and boutique vineyards, it has become a popular destination for local and foreign tourists and is described as a “picturesque Swartland village that offers a tranquil, artistic rural escape”.

However, the past few weeks have seen scenes of ugly inhumanity in Riebeek Kasteel with many community members living in the poor working-class sections of the town swept up by the xenophobic hysteria instigated by members of Operation Dudula’s Malmesbury branch.

South African members of the community staged marches calling for the expulsion of African migrants and their families living in the township. Delinquent school-going youth on school holiday, together with unemployed people, took advantage of the xenophobic animosity and violently evicted Zimbabweans, Malawians and Mozambicans from their homes and stealing their possessions. Spaza shops were not looted but people’s homes were destroyed and their valuables stolen.

Xenophobic violence of June 2022

In previous xenophobic violence in the area, in June 2022, the main grievance of the protesters was the ratio of South Africans to African migrants hired to work on farms. At the time, the Department of Employment and Labour did inspections on a few farms and submitted a report that on the days of their inspection, there were no foreign migrant workers.

It was concluded after a few meetings in September 2022 that a state, multi-service facility would be set up to provide services in the area, with many state services under one roof at an accessible location.

Unfortunately, it was a plaster on a festering wound because the question of farm owners employing and super-exploiting vulnerable, undocumented workers was not addressed. The home affairs office in the Boland region remains under-resourced, overwhelmed and unable to process applications for work and residency permits by migrant workers.

Anti-immigrant, ‘peaceful’ protesters in Alexandra township carrying weapons and some covering their faces during a protest in Gauteng. File photo by Simon Ramapuputla

Community rallies to support victims

The Riebeek West police station was set up as a humanitarian support centre for about 4 days where desperate migrants were sheltered as NGOs and community members rallied to raise funds to feed, clothe and provide them with blankets. Home affairs was on hand to process victims for passage to their countries of origin.

The ward councillors of Riebeek West and Riebeek Kasteel got the Western Cape government to provide buses to transport people to Musina. On the 2nd of July all those sheltered at the police station were processed by Home Affairs and taken to wait for busses to transport them to Musina, the men to Goedgedacht farm and the women to a local doctor’s house.

All state agencies and various sectors assisted: law enforcement, SAPS, victim support groups, neighbourhood watch, Community in Blue and many volunteers. Businesses and individuals donated and cooked food, and ferried goods to the police and Goedgedacht.

Displaced Zimbabwean and Malawian nationals outside the Department of Home Affairs in Epping, Cape Town, waiting to be bussed to Musina and repatriated. File photo by Mzi Velapi

The struggle to stop xenophobia continues

After an anti-African migrant march led by Operation Dudula in Malmesbury on the 25th of June, where they handed a memorandum to home affairs and the police, they gave notice of a march in Riebeek Kasteel, Esterhof, which was approved for the 9th of July.

The march was very poorly attended with approximately 30, mainly women, participants. The community decided in a safety meeting called by the Riebeek Valley CPF and the ward councillor the previous evening, that they will not tolerate xenophobic violence and attacks.

The farming community of Riebeek Kasteel predominantly consists of South Arican migrant workers, mainly from the rural areas of the Eastern Cape and African migrants from neighbouring countries in the SADC region who established themselves in the local township. Their desperation is exploited by local farm owners, many of whom remunerate these workers much less than the legislated national minimum wage and do not apply the country’s labour law protections.

The xenophobic pogroms in Riebeek Kasteel on the 2nd of July against foreign African migrants destroyed their livelihoods and caused huge suffering and trauma for them, their future abruptly uncertain.

Critical conversations are needed in Riebeek Kasteel, and the country, around issues of social justice and what it means for everyone who lives in South Africa. Poverty, inequality and spatial apartheid oppression has stoked frustrations and tensions, making combustible kindling for racist, right-wing political groups that blame African and south Asian immigrants for the suffering and misery of the poor in South Africa.

Strong, mass democratic civic organisation and principled leadership is required to rebuild the progressive politics of anti-racism, working class unity, and social justice and equality for all. Political education and mobilisation is vital for communities to express and organise themselves for meaningful change in our current material conditions.

It is important that we are not sidetracked in our struggle for working class unity, especially during an election year. We continue to strive for social justice and economic freedom in our lifetime.

Faiza Davids is a veteran activist, trade union organiser, and community worker, and currently the coordinator of the Riebeek Kasteel Advice Office. Davids is a member of the Boland Labour Community Media Forum (LCMF).