THE unprovoked attacks on Nigerians and their businesses in South Africa escalated last week, necessitating a Federal Government call on the African Union (AU) to urgently intervene. The Nigerian authorities also urged the South African government to take adequate measures to protect Nigerians and all nationals within its borders.
Agency reports show that more than 20 shops owned by Nigerians were targeted in Atteridgeville, outside Pretoria. At least 12 houses were also attacked in Rosettenville, South of Johannesburg. President of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, Mr. Ikechukwu Anyene, confirmed that five buildings with Nigerian businesses, including a church, were looted and burnt down. One of the affected buildings was a mechanic workshop with 28 cars under repairs.
The fear of more attacks spread all over South Africa among Nigerians. Tension rose to fever pitch in Nigeria, and it was no surprise that the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) burnt a South African flag in Abuja and threatened reprisals against South African corporations in Nigeria. Indeed, the students broke into the headquarters of the South African company, MTN, which is Nigeria’s biggest telecommunications firm.
By Friday, February 24, 2017, South African President, Jacob Zuma, issued what looked like a tongue-in-cheek statement condemning acts of violence. “It is wrong to brand all non-nationals as drug dealers or human traffickers. The threats and counter-threats on social media must stop,” it stated. It is unclear if the South African gangs would heed this tepid statement.
The periodic but unpredictable attacks on Nigerians in South Africa have finally reached a point where something must be done to prevent damage to the long-standing relationship between both countries. Senator Rose Oko captured the sentiments of most Nigerians when she queried last week: “why should Nigeria have excellent diplomatic relations with South Africa if the country is not hospitable to Nigerians residing there?”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, put the number of Nigerians killed in South Africa in the past two years at 116, with 20 killed in 2016.
The recurring cases of police brutality and extra-judicial killings of our citizens have become intolerable. Tochukwu Nnadi, a 34-year-old Nigerian businessman, was killed by the South African police inexplicably on December 29, 2016, for example.
It is necessary to tell the South African government that tempers are running high in Nigeria over the unending attacks on our compatriots. The recurring mistreatment of Nigerians has become provocative, and may lead to an ugly backlash whose outcome cannot be predicted. Even the Nigerian Senate has called for a harder stance on this matter, and demanded comprehensive reports from the Nigerian High Commission and the Consulate. In the House of Representatives, calls have been made for “bold steps” to end incessant killing of Nigerians abroad.
We must remind the Federal Government that the value we place on the lives and property of Nigerians at home and abroad determines how other countries treat our citizens.
It is regrettable that South Africans, in this era of internationalism, are pandering to narrow nationalism. It is worse, still, that the South African government is ignoring the existence of the principle of reciprocity. There are some 120 thriving South African businesses in Nigeria. Even if the South African government has forgotten Nigeria’s contribution to the struggle against apartheid, it is wrong for it to sacrifice vulnerable Nigerians for its own economic shortcomings.
We believe an overwhelming majority of Nigerians in Diaspora are responsible citizens who live within the dictates of the laws of their host countries. There are, however, a minority who indulge in illegal and, sometimes, criminal activities. It is this minority that is giving Nigeria a bad name that should be visited with the full weight of the laws of their host countries, while the responsible and hard working ones are allowed to live their lives in peace, and without undue harassment.
We are, however, strongly opposed to jungle justice at home and abroad, for the reason that it is no justice at all. We, therefore, unreservedly condemn the mistreatment of Nigerians in South Africa and urge that the government of that country affords them the protection available to them under its laws. Xenophobic attacks are antithetical to the spirit of African brotherhood and should be condemned by all.