Fola Ojo
Call it cruelty. Call it barbarity. Call it a trail and straggle of atrocities, savagery, and truculence, and you will be right on the money. South Africans in recent season have neither hidden their anger, nor sheathed their savage swords. It is daggers drawn; this time round, not against a white minority rulership and dominance over the majority; but a war of sorts on citizens of nations from across the world who have called South Africa home. Nationals from a few countries that were neck-deep in the freedom fight that helped Black South Africans break the chains of protracted pathetic apartheid are now victims of hatred and vitriol emanating from addlepated xenophobia.
We remember apartheid. We remember the scourge. The scars from the struggles we behold every day. And Nigeria, the giant of Africa, took a giant bite of that baked beans of sacrifice for our brothers. We were in the forefront and in lockstep with many others against oppressive machines of white slave masters. We huddled around the spirit of “Ubuntu”- which means: – “How can one be happy when the others are sad? How can one make it happen without the help of others”? In that spirit, Nigeria rallied around Black South Africa. Joined in the hips together in the struggles, the world was able to finally destroy the enclaves of apartheid. But today, the same people we helped are hurting us; bursting out new wounds in our hearts that may not heal quick. Their swords are now turned against their helpers. Those swords drip blood in widespread killings and violence all over their country. The anger is visible in burnt business facilities owned by foreigners, including Nigerians. The bitterness has been made manifest in charred bodies of foreigners who are now poster-children for despisement and hate in Madiba land.
Why have South Africans suddenly launched out livid against the rest of the world? The encapsulating summary of reasons for the fury was heard from the mouth of Thembelani Ngubane, the Secretary-General of a new political party; The African Basic Movement Party. Ngubane liberally and publicly expressed that foreign nationals are responsible for the high crime rate as well as the high unemployment rate in the country. He believes that his people with their qualifications are unemployed while foreigners are taking all the plum jobs. He said: “They come to South Africa very easily without any form of documentation. We need to make it illegal for foreigners to come and get married to South Africans in order to get citizenship”. Ngubane believes that foreigners are on a mission to destroy the South African youth and take over the country in a few years.
But are these allegations true; or they are only figments of imagination of envious and hateful hearts? I have never been to South Africa, and I have no intention of doing so now or in the future. But I have heard and read of many things. I have heard of some despicable behaviours of foreigners living in South Africa. I have heard of a take-over spirit of citizens of other nations who have now turned major South African cities to drug havens. I have read about foreigners turning South African girls as young as age 12 to prostitutes, drug couriers, and addicts. We have heard and read of many more accounts. But do all these warrant senseless and brutal murders and fire-bombing of homes and businesses of people who, not too long ago, were considered friends and helpers in trouble. It may be true that a few miscreants from many nations of the world may have truly overstepped their bounds in the land of their hosts. All over the world, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. I truly believe that the underlining whispers of the xenophobia story may border on low-self-esteem affliction on the part of poor and uneducated South Africans who usually architect the bulk of the rage and killings.
A few years ago, a Milwaukee city politician-friend invited me to speak at the birthday ceremony honouring Nelson Mandela, the late South African President. After my speech, a couple of South Africans approached me discussing Africa in general, and Nigeria-South African relations in particular. From our lengthy discussions, I concluded that Nigeria-South African relationship is frosty. I believe that an average South African person (not all) believes Nigerians are arrogant, bashfully aggressive, and cannot be trusted. What I heard from those persons convinced me that the country is not a safe place for Nigerians to do business. South Africans seem to have quickly forgotten that Nigeria, for example, stood in the forefront of the struggle to free them from the shackles of slavery. But unfortunately, today, we have also become the worst recipients of vicious assaults and mayhems by these blood-thirsty hoodlums. The universal law of cause and effect states that for every effect there is a definite cause, likewise for every cause, there is a definite effect. What led to this extreme barbaric reaction, for example, against Nigerians? Did we provoke it? Readers, it doesn’t really matter to me at this point. The important matter is always what should matter. And that important matter to me is government at home.
Nigeria, without a doubt, is an island of wealth, a trough of treasures; penstock of prosperity; and a depository of resources natural. If the country works for the little man as it does for big boys with monopolised access to wealth, why will any Nigerian choose to live in South Africa? The sleeping Giant of Africa is the home of innumerable sages; arsenal of intellectuals, harbour of highbrows, human gathering of geeks and deft double-domes. If the ‘Giant’ can boast a functional and thriving economic system, and a bright hope for the future of men and women in business, why must people abandon the beauty of Lagos, the oily wealth of Port Harcourt, the serenity Enugu and the wetness of Ibadan heading out to call Johannesburg home? If our youths are gainfully employed and education system is not crippled and paraplegic, why will parents take their children abroad to learn Zulu and Xhosa in Cape Town? A disabled and demobilised environment is why men flee Nigeria in droves; and it is why they get caught up in ugly and irascible xenophobia in a place like South Africa. If Nigerians are most likely to become what they desire to become, they will not leave Nigeria for a place like Czech Republic where the government offered to pay 4,000 EUR to immigrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Mongolia, Russia, and Vietnam; with a warning that they should never consider coming back. Nigeria needs to put her house in order.
At one time in Nigeria’s history, many nations of the world accordingly accorded us our due reverence. Why did we lose respect globally and hated almost everywhere around the world? We are killed in Malaysia and murdered in China. We are jailed in the US and beheaded in Thailand and Saudi Arabia. We are hated in Dubai and despised in Dublin. Small nations detest us, and big ones call us bad names. Can we swing at a deep introspection with truth and then make changes where appropriate? Respect is a jewel and a precious stone. It is more precious than silver and costlier than gold. The values of pearls and diamonds are not comparable to the value of respect. When we put our house in order, the world will respect us again. Until then, I see no end to the xenophobia; not only in South Africa, but in many places around the world.
- @folaojotweet
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