On-the-renewed-xenophobic-attack-in-south-africa-the-urgent-need-for-president-buhari-and-the-national-assembly-to-act-appropriately,-and-the-need-for-south-africa-to-end-xenophobia

President Buhari (Left) and President Ramaphosa of South Africa (Right)

ON THE RENEWED XENOPHOBIC ATTACK IN SOUTH AFRICA – THE URGENT NEED FOR PRESIDENT BUHARI AND THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO ACT APPROPRIATELY, AND THE NEED FOR SOUTH AFRICA TO END XENOPHOBIA
With recent reports that the streets in the Central Business District of Johannesburg have been brought to a complete shutdown for the second weekend in a row, we believe the Nigerian Federal Government and members of the National Assembly should jettison their so-called diplomatic approach towards addressing the reoccurring xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa, and then take quick drastic measures in protecting the safety of Nigerians over there. The ugly scenes erupted on Sunday (08/09/19) afternoon, after attempts to quell the xenophobic tensions between foreign business owners and hostel dwellers fell spectacularly flat. Up to 10 people were said to have been killed in violent protests at the start of this month. It has already been reported that one person caught up in the chaos has been stabbed to death and five persons injured.
We can see that this issue of xenophobia, which can best be described as “self-hate” – deep-seated hate of a black race against another of its kind, has gone beyond “diplomatic talks”, and not something that should be treated with kid gloves, but seriously requires drastic measures and precise public statements to register the disapproving standpoint of the Nigerian people. This is not the first time, neither does it seem it’s going to be the last, that xenophobic attack incidents will be observed in South Africa, especially against Nigerians, most of whom are there to hustle and fend for the families. This unhealthy and condemnable situation keeps reoccurring, and it needs to stop. We need to see Mr. President, as the Commander In Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces who swore an oath to protect the lives and territorial integrity of Nigeria and its citizens (wherever they are), to come out and take drastic steps to teach the South African Government and its people a lesson they will not forget in a hurry.
South Africans have obviously forgotten the big brother role Nigeria played to liberate them from Apartheid. As noted by former South African President and African nationalist, Late Nelson Mandela, in a public speech when he was still alive: “As you know, I have been in prison for 27 years. Many countries, many Governments, many organizations, many individuals; called for my release. One of them in that call, was the Government and people of Nigeria… Nigeria, has given us (South Africans) a lot of financial and material support. They have assisted us, not only in the form of funds, and in that respect, they have been one of the most generous donors to our coffers.” With such profound and defining history, one then begins to wonder what is the justification for the latest round of xenophobic attacks against African immigrants in South Africa?
For how long will the xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals, which includes Nigerians, go on in South Africa unchecked? The looting and killing of black African nationals living in South Africa, is becoming a common occurrence, and with no end in sight. This thing happens literally every year, and it seems to be getting worse. It is not just about looting their shops, burning their shops, cars and businesses, these South Africans have been killing their fellow Black Africans. There was a time seven Zimbabweans were burnt alive. At least 118 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa, not to talk about other African countries. Some of the videos of these attacks spreading online are so graphic that they make one sick to the stomach. There was one they pulled the guy out of his car, and they stoned him in broad day light, and other South Africans were passing by as this was happening, and nobody cared to stop it.  
Killing another human being because of their nationality; Black people hating other Black people; South Africans who were oppressed, have now become the ones oppressing their fellow black foreigners, except the fact that they are oppressing those who stood by them during the Apartheid – is simply pathetic. And the Police in South Africa are said not to be able to handle/control the situation, as most times, when the Police are in one location trying to arrest and disperse protesters and looters, the South Africans who carry out the acts move to another location to continue their crime. The scary thing is that there are people in South Africa who have made it their goal to rub and kill Black foreigners in that country. In a news analysis report by Adeola Fayehun of Keeping It Real, she reported of a particular “xenophobic gang who often target foreign owned stores in South Africa. Its leader calls himself “Ghaddafi”, and his excuse for doing this, in his word: “there are no jobs because the foreigners are taking their jobs, so obviously we will rob them. My Soldiers must eat, they must smoke…” This is just one, out of the many of such xenophobic gangs in South Africa. Like the said gang leader, many South Africans claim that many African nationals, especially Nigerians bring drugs to their country, or take their jobs. While we are not disputing that fact, but it is also imperative to note that not all Nigerians or other African nationals are criminally-minded. Besides, who are those taking the drugs? Such illegal business can only thrive in a place where the demand for it is high. Also, how is looting somebody’s shop the solution? How is hijacking and looting somebody’s car going to change their life conditions?
From the clips going round, of these xenophobic attacks, those involved do not really look like people who are ready to work hard. The real problem and issue in South Africa, is that so many people were not prepared after the Apartheid era, especially in the aspect of getting the education and requisite skills to get a good job, or be self-sufficient. A South African lady noted that, if all the foreign Doctors should leave South Africa, and all the skilled workers in South Africa from Zimbabwe, Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, etc., should leave South Africa, how many of these people that are vandalizing shops and businesses have the skills and expertise to cover the gaps that would be created? In her words: “Have you gone to Tembisa Hospital in Johannesburg? That Hospital is packed with Nigerian Doctors. They left Nigeria, came to South Africa to save lives…”
Regardless of how we feel about this situation, we want to say to the South African Government that they really need to take care of their people. This issue has been going on for a long time and they cannot continue to ignore it because it will only continue to get worse. First of all, the psychological effect of Apartheid is real. Some South Africans need therapy. They need to overcome that mindset that was created as a result of being oppressed. How people should get passed the mentality that was created in the Apartheid should be addressed. A lot of South Africans are still held back by the psychological trauma of that discriminatory experience. If nothing is done about it, this issue cannot change. That is why some South Africans would go on camera and boldly say that they will attack their fellow black foreigners. But the problem is that the foreigners that they are attacking, were not the ones responsible for what had happened to them. So, these South Africans need psychological and social cure. They also need to teach their South African citizens of how to start their own businesses. With all the shops they are attacking, there is nothing stopping South Africans from starting/opening their own shops and businesses. But they are not doing that. Rather, they are attacking other Africans who come in to set up their own businesses. They have to rehabilitate their people, teach them how to start their own businesses. They have to develop the townships; they have to make education compulsory. Even though it is free in South Africa, but not everybody goes.
Also, the wealth inequality in South Africa is alarming. We know that this inequality is everywhere, but in South Africa, 10% is said to own 90% of the country’s wealth. The inequality in South Africa is real and huge. Like you would drive in some places in South Africa the places are so developed, and so wealthy, that you would think you are in are in the Western world. And then you will drive some miles and see some townships and slums that will make you wonder if you are still in the same country. We know we have that in Nigeria and other African nations, but the fact is that South Africa is believed to be the world most unequal country, and it is not an excuse to loot other African immigrants. The wealth inequality in South Africa is too much.
However, the long-term solution to all of this is for other African countries like Nigeria to start developing themselves. A popular Nigerian music director and producer twitted this in his Twitter handle: “Growing up, my parents did all they could to make sure that we did not go to our neighbors’ house for food. That being said, our leaders are falling out hands. We need to fix our home so we do not go into the house of our neighbors when we can see that there are clearly some animals there.” We are glad that a lot of African leaders, celebrities and Organizations have come out to register their disapproval, and also condemned the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, with others calling for the African Union (AU) to suspend South Africa. But beyond condemning all of these, we need to demand that this has to stop, and practically steps taken to prevent its reoccurrence in the near and far future.
We appreciate Air Peace, that first volunteered to evacuate Nigerians in South Africa who are willing to return back to the country, before the Federal Government towed the same line. But there is also the problem of some of these Nigerians who probably do not want to leave South Africa, either because they have invested so much back there, or that they really do not have anything to come back home to in Nigeria. But we believe one’s life is more important than anything material wealth or comfort. There are even other countries they can go to if they do not want to come back to Nigeria, because we understand the situation in Nigeria as well. But they do not have to die in South Africa just because they want to make it.
Meanwhile, there are recent reports that President Muhammadu Buhari said that he will be going to South Africa next month October for a State visit. But if the President is going there because of these xenophobic attacks, this is early September, why do the President have to wait till October to visit South Africa? Why wait till October, by then the situation might have calmed down? Again, while we also condemn the reprisal attacks by Nigerians on South African businesses like Shoprite and MTN in Nigeria, the obvious reason why South Africans are now being attacked by Nigerians, is because the Federal Government are not doing anything concrete to protect its citizens that are being killed in South Africa. Yes, we do not believe in fighting violence with violence; we do not think it is right for Nigerians to start doing the same thing we are condemning in South Africa, in Nigeria, as well as in other African countries by their citizens. These reprisal attacks make no sense because the workers of these South African businesses in Nigeria, are Nigerians. Most of the shops in the malls where Shoprites are situated are owned by Nigerians. So, if these places are burnt down, vandalized or looted, it is our Nigerian brothers/sisters that will be affected.
Part of what we are seeing by the way, is just the “anger” that has been building up in the hearts of Nigerians against the Nigerian Government. The South Africans are even aware of this, and the “weaknesses” of our Government. Hence, some of them had the audacity to tweet things like: “Tomorrow we will be fuc***g them up again. And your Government won’t do sh*t!” They know that we do not have a “responsive Government” in Nigeria and that is why they keep doing this.
Besides, Nigeria should not be where it is right now; our Nigerian citizens should not be running to countries like South Africa in search of a better life, if our past and present Nigerian Government at all levels had done, and are still doing what they were/are supposed to have done with our collective wealth. Why can’t Nigeria take care of its citizens? Or should we say, when are they going to take care of Nigerian citizens? We are supposed to be the ‘giant of Africa’, but that has not been the case. When will Nigeria Governments get their acts together by fixing our roads, give Nigerians stable electricity, fix our hospitals, etc.? Otherwise, this outburst that is going on right now in Nigeria, can actually lead to many other things. If the Buhari administration have insight, they would see that a lot of Nigerians are really angry. And at any moment, they can turn their anger on the Government, not just on South Africans. We really hope that our Nigerian Government will learn some lessons from these xenophobic attacks and the reprisals that followed. We think that it is odd that people are being killed in South Africa because they are not from South Africa, but do you know that is it the same when we kill or hate each other and people of other tribes in Nigeria. The way we see the situation in South Africa, that is the way the whole world looks at us when we start killing and hating each other based on ethnicity. We need to start uniting as a people.
According to Julius Malema, the leader of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in South Africa: “This country belongs to Africans in the same way it belongs to South Africans. Nigeria is South Africa; South Africa is Nigeria. We are Zimbabweans. We need to do away with this nonsensical idea that was imposed on us by colonizers – that we must dislike each other. When it is a white person in South Africa, undocumented, he is called an “Investor”. Not only a white person, including an Indian, or a Chinese. But if it was our African brothers, we are gong to be calling them gwara-gwaras (meaning someone or something substandard/inferior).” Malema has maintained his stance that the anger towards small business owners who are foreign nationals in South Africa is misdirected, saying Africans can, and will unite. Malema continued to blame white people for the violence experienced by African foreign nationals, saying the current state of the country is "the mess they created".   
While these are deep-seated issues that can best be addressed by the South African ruling Government, our major thrust here is that the Nigerian Government has not done enough to protect its Nigerian citizens in South Africa, as well as other countries. 
President Buhari, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, urgently need to take a more serious approach and line of action to address this xenophobic situation in South Africa. If not, more attacks will arise and it will consume both black Africans and the minority white South Africans in South Africa.  Until something drastic, as suggested above, is urgently done, they will continue to attack Nigerians left, right and center – not only in South Africa but in other countries. This is no longer xenophobia, but complete genocide.
 
 
Zik Gbemre.
 
 
 
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