For a large part of the early 21st Century South Africa, xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals and especially on Nigerians living in the Republic of South Africa has become a commonality. Year in year out, we hear of Nigerians being burnt or stoned alive in some of the major cities in South Africa such as Pretoria, Durban, Johannesburg, and in the suburbs as well.
And the question on the lips of many Nigerians who hear such news is:
“Can’t they see that we are black brothers and sisters? Why do they keep doing this to us?”
Just as the year rolled into the last four months of the calendar on Sunday, September 1st, more reports began filing in of attacks on properties believed to be owned by Nigerians in South Africa. Other videos circulated of people being lynched as the South African police and law enforcement either encouraged the mob or watched helplessly.
Right on social media, the rage over the fate of Nigerians living in South Africa kindled anew and it finally forced the hands of the government to take decisive action this time – making demands of the South African government which has always enjoyed the goodwill and comradeship of Nigeria.
South Africa and Nigeria relations go way back. Back when the icon of South African liberation, Nelson Mandela, was still in prison, Nigeria not only provided strategic support but also financial, human and moral support to the movement which helped to free the Rainbow Nation from the stranglehold of Apartheid. At some point, Mandela was in Nigeria hiding from apartheid spies which went out to shut him down. Mandela would later speak in appreciation of the role Nigeria and other African nations which stood by it in their trying times.
This is partly why it remains unbelievable that there is an orchestrated hate being directed at Nigerians particularly. Even Nigerians are wont to believe that the tight measures Nigerians are made to pass through before being able to secure South African visas for holiday or business or official visits or migration is partly as a result of some of that hatred which they cannot explain its origin.
Nelson Mandela named South Africa as a Rainbow Nation shortly after he was released from prison and assumed power in 1994. He encouraged more interaction, trade, cultural and intellectual exchange between South Africa and its neighbours. The move allowed the Rainbow Nation’s economy to skyrocket through the opportunities opened up in the tourism sector.
But today, some South Africans on Twitter would rather blame the dwindling economy of the country on Nigerian while asking the migrant ones resident in the country to go back to their respective countries. Nigerians have been accused of being the drug-runners, peddling narcotics toxic to the mental well-being of some of the jobless South African youth but some evidence suggests the contrary.
No nation has done particularly well without the economic input of migrants who open up enterprises and companies while employing the citizens of the host country, either directly or indirectly.
As the Nigerian government has finally risen up in defense of its people demanding compensation for those who have lost lives and properties while also seeking assurances that the South African government deploy proactive measures to prevent further attacks in the future; the message out there should remain that of love between brethren – especially the communal love which has always existed between Blacks nations from time immemorial.
Source:
Enact Africa
Vanguard NG
Featured Image Source: BBC
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