Henry Boyo
The latest widespread currency of the word, xenophobia, is instigated by recent media reports of the looting and burning of shops, allegedly, owned in South Africa by foreign nationals, primarily from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Incidentally, xenophobia is defined as “dislike of, or, prejudice against people from other countries.” Indeed, the rampage is the latest of similar attacks which date back to 1994, when such incidents were first reported against Mozambican and Congolese immigrants in South Africa. After majority rule in 1994, at least 67 people, according to Wikipedia, were reportedly killed in xenophobic attacks between 2000 and 2008.
Similar attacks were also reported in October 2015, when local taxi drivers attacked shops owned by Pakistani, Somali, Bangladeshi and Ethiopian residents of Grahams Town. The attacks were, apparently, the product of a rumour that insinuated that foreigners were responsible for the rampant murders in the land! Curiously, ward councillors, in the Makana municipality, also demanded in February 2017 that foreigners should not be given platforms to have their own shops, while an officially sanctioned anti-immigrant protest was held in Pretoria. The protesters “accused immigrants of taking jobs from South Africans and also causing crime!” Other protesters also complained that foreigners, particularly Nigerians, were arrogant and also “don’t know how to talk to people!”
The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has been accused of stoking fears of xenophobia when he promised to crack down on undocumented foreigners involved in criminal activities, during the run-up to the March 2019 elections!
Ultimately, in September 1, 2019, following the death of a taxi driver, riots and looting, targeting immigrants’ shops, broke out in Johannesburg. About 50 businesses, predominantly owned by African immigrants, were reportedly destroyed or damaged.
The preceding narrative confirms that criminal attacks on innocent African immigrants are not new in South Africa.
Conversely, the authorities have, seemingly, condoned such incidents, sometimes, with the police knowingly looking the other way, while senior government officials, make uncomplimentary insinuations, which could fuel the intensity of such attacks. For example, in September 2019, the South African Small Business Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, asserted that “foreign business owners had an advantage over their South African counterparts because of marginalisation under apartheid.” According to Zulu, “they (immigrant businesses) cannot barricade themselves and not share their ‘trade secrets’ with local business owners.”
Nevertheless, a case study by Vanya Gastrow, a researcher from the African Centre for Migration, in Johannesburg, suggests that “most small foreign retailers set a low mark-up to make a high turnover. Furthermore, they also locate their businesses in higher traffic pedestrian areas, and open their shops early and close late. Additionally, they also have a wide product range!”
Regrettably, the efforts of security forces to protect immigrants remain unconvincing, and have certainly failed to diffuse the possibility of fresh attacks.
However, the latest xenophobic attacks on Africans have, evoked much more emotion with frenzied diplomatic shuttle to calm the storm. Curiously, the South African authorities have, as usual, adopted the deflective denial approach claiming that the attacks were more crime-related than allegations of xenophobia. Indeed, despite the evident robust contributions of eminently qualified Nigerian professionals in health, business and higher educational institutions in South Africa, they have been largely, unfairly, labelled as drug dealers, human traffickers and scammers.
Ultimately, the fear of further persecution has forced about 640 Nigerians to choose to hurriedly return home. On September 11, 2019, the first batch of about 187 immigrants arrived in Lagos, courtesy of AirPeace. Curiously, however, South African officials have insisted that Nigerian evacuees without approved immigration status would be profiled, and possibly prosecuted before they can return home, while those with valid visas have their visas withdrawn before departure!
Although the Nigerian government has demanded compensation from South Africa, for these unfortunate victims of xenophobia, no value has so far been mentioned.
In sporadic reprisals, ubiquitous street urchins popularly called “area boys” also looted perceived South African business interests in Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja. Ironically, the damage on these properties was ultimately self-inflicted as the Nigerian tenants and shareholders of such South African franchises, invariably, suffered heavy losses, and it is not clear how these innocent bystanders will ultimately be compensated! In contrast to the reported lukewarm responses of South African Police to xenophobic attacks, the quick, and robust response of the Nigeria security forces may have significantly curtailed the damage caused from reprisals in Nigeria.
However, Nigerians cannot be sanctimonious about the bane of xenophobia as hundreds of thousands of Ghanaian immigrants were, also, summarily ordered, by the directive of President Shehu Shagari, in January 1983, to leave Nigeria for political considerations, allegedly, relating to the imminent elections, later in August 1983. In retrospect, during that exercise, the immigrants were not unduly molested and their property was not also brazenly looted by ubiquitous city miscreants as the Nigerian economy remained fairly buoyant!
Similarly, Nigerian traders in Ghana, who controlled the country’s retail trade, from the centrally located popular Makola Market, in 1969, were ordered to leave, even after these Nigerians and their families had lived for decades in the then Gold Coast!
Incidentally, 50 years thereafter, it is déjà vu, as Nigerian traders in Kumasi, Ghana, have lately (2019) endured pressure to close their shops and return to their homeland.
Predictably, from the preceding series of repatriation of African immigrants, the possibility of repetition of such trauma, in another African context, cannot be ruled out! It seems incongruent, however, that 42 African countries, including Nigeria, endorsed a protocol to facilitate free trade within the continent, yet, the critical issue of free movement of peoples, across erstwhile colonial boundaries, appears frozen. Surely, if you want free access to my market and resources, you should also welcome my family, when we are in need. After all, that presumably is also the ultimate goal of the quest for an African Union, just like the European Union!
Remarkably, older Nigerian citizens still recall the compulsory ‘voluntary’ levies which were automatically deducted from individual salaries in both the public and private sectors, as contributions towards bringing down the evil rule of apartheid in South Africa. Furthermore, during the liberation struggle, Nigeria was also recognised as a frontline state, because of its ‘open-ended’ contribution and unabashed leadership, against apartheid. Sonny Okosun’s Papa’s Land” and “Fire in Soweto,” also became the international anthem against white minority rule! Consequently, with our antecedents in the liberation of Africans in South Africa, Nigerians may be horrified at the odious reward of xenophobia for their sacrifice of love for their fellow African brothers and sisters!
Arguably, the relative peace and stability within immigrant communities in the European Union, is largely due to a common platform of relatively level opportunities for indigenes as well as immigrants from other EU countries. Consequently, there is minimal recourse to xenophobia, especially when discipline in the creation of fiat money sustains below three per cent inflation rates to preserve purchasing power, and stimulate consumer demand, with increasing productivity and more jobs.
Invariably, since human beings will, naturally, migrate to greener pastures, it is necessary that in order to significantly eliminate the negative products of mass migration in Africa, development and growth, within each country, must fall within similar economic bands to avoid the threat of xenophobic attacks of host economies on immigrants!
Notably, the unemployment rate amongst the 15-24 age groups in South Africa is as high as 55 per cent, while the unemployment rate for the same age group average 58.1 per cent in Nigeria. Such high rates of unemployment clearly deepen poverty and provide a combustible mix which will instigate further threats of xenophobia, particularly, if inflation also spirals closer to 10 per cent to negatively impact the purchasing power of all income earners throughout the continent!
[Punch]
