SIR: The last few weeks witnessed the condemnable attacks of African immigrants in South Africa. Video claps replete with looting, arson, murder and the like in Johannesburg shocked the world. Over the years, Somalis, Zimbabweans and Mozambicans have been victims of the country’s xenophobic attacks. However, this month’s attacks strained tensions between South Africa and Nigeria—the continent’s two largest economies.
Some South Africans, unfortunately, are happy about it. Zweli Ndaba and his Sisonke People’s Forum group, who allegedly ignited the latest attacks was reported to have said: “Enough is enough, on selling of drugs, on property theft, and on our work being taken by foreign nationals.”
Vusumuzi Sibanda, chairperson of the African Diaspora Forum, said his organisation actually handed some flyers containing some xenophobic messages to the police days before the attacks happened. But, no action was taken to curtail it.
Another South African was reported to have said: “We need to take our fight to the Nigerians because they are the ones who are destroying us.” However, the worst came from South Africa’s Minister of International Relations, Grace Naledi Mandisa Pander, who said, “I would appreciate them in helping us as well to address the belief our people have and the reality that there are many persons from Nigeria dealing in drugs in our country.”
Savo Heleta, in an article titled ‘Xenophobia and Party Politics in South Africa’, stated that through blatant lies and scaremongering, foreigners are blamed for many of South Africa’s woes and social ills, adding that “South Africa isn’t overwhelmed with immigrants, with some 2.2 million international migrants (about 4% of the population) in the country in 2011. Stats SA Community Survey 2016 puts the number of foreign born people at 1.6 million, out of the population of 55 million at the time.”
Adekeye Adebajo, a Nigerian academic who leads the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg, in his reaction to these xenophobic attacks said that they are partly as a result of the economic frustration many poor South Africans have endured after apartheid, adding that many South Africans resentment is: ‘We suffered all these years—now that we’re free, we’re not really benefiting from what we fought for.’”
There is no country without challengers. Bad leadership and governance, soaring unemployment, insecurity, terrorism, political tensions, and the inaction of the government and the leaders to address them have caused many Nigerians to lose hope in Nigeria.
Ghana, Libya, Saudi Arabia, India, Singapore, South Africa, etc.—countries that once looked up to Nigeria have now outpaced it in terms of economy and technology. These countries are where almost all Nigerians want to live if given the slightest chance.
No one is saying that reprisal attacks should be meted to South Africans or their business in Nigeria, but the Nigerian government should re-strategize and be proactive in dealing with South African government and leaders. It is expected that by now, Nigerian government should have helped the victims to sue the South African government or even sue that country in the international court for the injustice done to its people.
Xenophobia is not a problem that would go away overnight. For it to go away at all, the world and Africa should hold South Africa accountable for the deaths and damages it has caused its follow Africans. Though South African president has apologised to those affected, it is not enough. Strict measures should be put in place to avoid reoccurrence of these attacks in future. If Nigeria is truly the giant of Africa, she should make sure that its citizens are safe wherever they are in the world. If this is not so, it should ensure any country or government violating this, are strictly meted with justice.
Kingsley Alumona, Ibadan.
