On Sunday South African President Thabo Mbeki finally spoke out against the murderous xenophobic violence perpetrated against migrants and refugees in South Africa, a great number of whom, it should be noted, have fled the violence, oppression and starvation in neighbouring Zimbabwe–on which he remains silent.

The violence against the weak and the vulnerable–which has seen the return of the abominable practice of ‘necklacing’–is worse than deplorable, although it is not unfathomable if you look beneath the veneer of the post-Apartheid state. The prescription as advocated by various Western liberals–and increasingly–governments, was simple: enfranchise the population and all else will follow.

As has become increasingly obvious to anyone paying attention since 1994, national liberation is not sufficient–it is not enough to hand power from one elite to another and wait for things to take care of themselves, as the gulf between the poor and the middle class widens in an expanding economy–there is now a greater distribution of inequality. The problems of atomisation and increasing stratification of wealth and class are not confined to South Africa, although the effects and levels of poverty are particularly acute–as the poor of the townships direct their anger not at the ruling class, but on those who have even less than they do.

If things have not changed for the majority, it is evident that little has changed in the Afrikaaner heartland either. Simon Reeve, visiting the town of Louis Trichardt remarked that things appear to have changed dramatically–the town centre was previously the domain of white farmers–however, appearances are deceiving, as Boer militias train with assault weapons in the bush in order that they are ready to ‘handle’ any serious attempt to overturn existing social relations. Reeve, shooting an AK47, said the experience made him feel strangely powerful–to which his Boer host responded with great candour ‘that’s the problem’, ie the power which emanates from the barrel of the gun undermines the ‘natural’ ‘authority’ of the white farmer. Later Reeve showed disgusting, bloated Boer vigilante pigs patrolling the border, having arrogated to themselves the authority to stop and search people, before trussing them with plasticuffs to be returned to starvation.

The South African experience is a text book example of the failure of the neo-liberal economic model to address the problems of states on the periphery of capitalism, although what else could the ANC have done but become part of the global economy? You cannot have socialism in one country. The root cause of the impotence of the ANC government is South Africa’s subservient position as a former outpost of imperialism.

In conclusion–No One Is Illegal.