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| Calls intensify for decisive executive leadership to address regional tensions. |
The unfortunate insularity being advocated by South Africans misses the essential point of a globalising world.
The rainbow nation of South Africa has been in a xenophobic eruption since April, in a renewed wave of the assault, which has claimed the lives of two Nigerians, ironically killed by operatives of that country’s National Defence Force. Nigeria is demanding an explanation for this unfair targeting of its nationals. And, in pursuit of this, it has activated the diplomatic protocols required.
In viral footage, foreigners – essentially blacks from other African countries – can be seen being chased by motley crowds with cudgels, with some of them clobbered to stupor, kicked and marched on the ground. This violation and indignity are against all that the African Union (AU) Charter stands for in its guarantees on economic integration and individual and collective rights.
Masterminded by a mélange of political parties and groups, such as Inkatha Freedom Party, MK Party, March and March Movement, and Operation Dudula, the misguided crusaders of this vicious campaign say it is aimed at a “clean up” of their country of foreign elements, who contribute nothing to the economy except to traffic in crime, drugs and prostitution. They also accused them of taking their jobs and eloping with their women.
Therefore, foreigners have been asked to go back to their countries and fix the rot bedevilling them. From Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, the hurricane has spread to Cape Town, East London, Pretoria and KuGompo. Nigerians are scared-stiff of the volcanic proportions of this xenophobia, such that no fewer than 130 of them have volunteered to return home as soon as possible.
The mayhem is mirroring the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, with South African schools and hospitals being invaded to fish out their targets. Two Ghanaians have also been killed by mobs so far.
Nobody could have put it better than the inimitable Nelson Mandela, who said, “The support we have received from Nigeria has been second to none,” during his thank-you visit in 1990, shortly after he was released from jail. Nigeria was Mandela’s sanctuary for six months in 1963, and Thabo Mbeki was in asylum here, where he served as the African National Congress (ANC) representative from 1977 to 1984.
Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa set up the National Committee Against Apartheid in 1960, a few months after Nigeria’s independence. It became an instant instrument of pressure on the United Nations system and other international organisations for sustained action against the evil apartheid regime. Besides, the ANC received $5 million annually from Nigeria for its operations, just as Nigeria sacrificed $41 million worth of rejected sales of oil to the apartheid government.
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In 1976, Nigeria set up the South Africa Relief Fund, with a $3.7 million seed grant. By 1977, $10.7 million had been accumulated, from 2 per cent of the emoluments of our civil servants and public officers, while Nigerian students equally sacrificed part of their allowances for this purpose, informally known then as the “Mandela tax.” Some estimate that Nigeria’s commitment to the apartheid fight gulped as much as $61 billion in all.
What Nigeria deserves in return for its unparalleled show of brotherhood to South Africa during its hour of greatest need is not harassment, intimidation and the indefensible killing of its citizens. MTN, MultiChoice and Standard Bank are South Africa’s corporate giants in Nigeria, whose interests remain unmolested or harmed, unlike the fate of our countrymen and women in their country. It is more than due to remind Ramaphosa to lead his country’s folks right!
Thanks for the feedback mate!