The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Xenophobia

  • Xenophobia: NANS gives S/African govt ultimatum

    Xenophobia: NANS gives S/African govt ultimatum

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has given the South African Government 72 hours to stop xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other Africans resident in the country.

    NANS President Tijani Usman conveyed the ultimatum during a protest march by the association against such attacks on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that NANS had on April 18, issued a seven-days ultimatum to the South African Government to end the attacks.

    The students who had placards with the inscriptions “Say no to Xenophobia’’; “Xenophobia is Evil’’; “South Africa, Enough is Enough’’, marched to the MTN office and the South African High Commission both in Maitama.

    “The purpose of this protest is to register our grievances and solidarise with our people in South Africa because of the xenophobic attacks; Africa is our own and we should not be racists in our own continent.

    “We condemn such acts and we call on President Jacob Zuma of South Africa to address this issue with immediate effect, otherwise South Africans in Nigeria will not find things easy here;  we will make sure they are deported back and we will shut all their businesses.

    “This is a signal; we are giving them 72 hours to stop all attacks; if they fail, they will face the wrath of Nigerian students.’’

    Usman appealed to the United Nations to call the South African Government to order, adding that it seemed not to have taken any serious action to address the problem.

    Also speaking, Mr Nwankwo Ezekiel, the NANS Public Relations Officer, told NAN that the protest was to drive home the earlier ultimatum given to the South African Government.

    “In our statement earlier, we gave seven days but today, we want to register our grievances so that in the next three days, we will shut down all South African investments in Nigeria, if the attacks are not stopped,’’ he said.

    NAN reports that it took the timely intervention of a team of policemen led by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr Wilson Inalegwu, to quell the brewing tension at the MTN office as some students were becoming unruly.

    Inalegwu told NAN that that the students had the right to protest but were expected to conduct  themselves properly.

    He said he had to come down to the MTN office personally when we received a report that the students were trying to conduct themselves otherwise.

    “I had to come here personally and I thank God that their president was able to lead the students out of the premises peacefully.

    “We have deployments in other South African establishments and I have spoken with their president and I expect him to conduct himself properly,’’ the commissioner said.

    The students also took their protest to the South African High Commission.

  • South Africa warned against xenophobia

    South Africa warned against xenophobia

    …Nigeria gets first gastroenterology centre in West Africa

    The Chairman, Board of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr Olatokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, yesterday condemned the xenophobia attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

    Dr Awolowo-Dosunmu, who spoke during the inauguration of the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) Lagos Training Centre at LUTH, the first in West Africa and 17th in the world, charged the South African government to call her citizens to order and ensure peace.

    The attacks, she said, if not checked, could cause diplomatic rows between Nigeria and South Africa.

    She said the two countries were known for different collaborations, which should be sustained as the centre inaugurated was supported by the Gastroenterology Foundation of South Africa.

    This gesture, she said, should be a reminder that the two countries can achieve a lot through collaborations.

    The facility, Awolowo-Dosunmu said, will bring about development in gastroenterology and endoscopy training as well as simplify treatment.

    She said the centre is a landmark achievement that will deepen gastroenterology and endoscopy training in the country and West Africa.

     

  • From Mandela to xenophobia

    Sometimes it is hard to believe that the country that produced Nelson Mandela is currently the scene for nauseating waves of xenophobic attacks that have seized global headlines.

    There are very few people anywhere who have not been inspired by the powerful story of how the former South African president emerged from 27 years’ incarceration to ascend his country’s presidency. What is especially remarkable about the man was that he emerged from prison without bitterness and was willing to forgive former Apartheid rulers who had brutally kept blacks in sub-human conditions.

    Mandela’s generous spirit inspired what came to be known as the Rainbow Nation – a South Africa which committed itself to its different races living together harmoniously.

    It is rather sad that the generousity of spirit demonstrated by Madiba and some leaders of his generation hasn’t percolated down to some of his countrymen. One of the worst blights on South Africa’s image post-1994 majority rule is regular orgies of xenophobic attacks.

    Wikipedia estimates that between 2000 and March 2008 up to 67 people were killed in such incidents. A series of riots triggered by rage against foreigners claimed 62 lives.

    The latest wave of attacks which have already cost 15 people their lives are believed to have been triggered by comments made by the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini. He reportedly said foreigners must pack their bags and get out of South Africa. He made the comments in the presence of the country’s Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and provincial Member of Executive Council (MEC) Willies Mchunu.

    Since the violence flared 5,000 people have marched in Durban to express their disapproval of the attacks. But not so for the king whose spokesman Prince Thulani Zulu told South Africa’s Daily Sun during the week he had nothing to be sorry for.

    At the root of the anger of South African blacks towards the foreigners in the midst are the old claims: they have taken away our jobs, women, commit crimes and make the environment filthy. While one can appreciate the frustration in a country where unemployment and poverty remains high among the black population, it hard to see how this constitutes ground for killing and setting fellow Africans ablaze. Such bestiality is unacceptable.

    Unfortunately, many South Africans are so insular and ignorant they think the sun rises and sets in their country. A colleague in Johannesburg once told me that some of his countrymen travelling to other locations on the continent would say things like “I am going to Africa” – as though their country were part of Europe, Asia or America.

    That ignorance blacks out the fact that while their country was laboring under Apartheid many of their fathers and grandfathers lived in the same countries whose nationals they so despise now.

    Countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria and others not only supported their struggle by hosting freedom fighters they educated and funded them generously. Some of those countries that were then termed Frontline States were subject to repeated deadly military incursions by the Apartheid regime. All of that is conveniently forgotten now.

    Despite the humiliations they received in the past and sometimes receive now from their white compatriots, black South Africans somehow believe they are superior to other Africans. We await empirical basis for this belief.

    Unfortunately, xenophobic attacks continue because successive governments in Pretoria have not dealt with them firmly. South Africans have been getting away with murder and this must end. If the authorities will not move to stop the nonsense then other countries must act to protect their people.

    South Africans often sneer at the rest of the continent but don’t see anything wrong in their ambitious companies making killer profits from the rest of us. A good place to begin to sending the message that the killings are not acceptable is to target their business either with official sanctions or consumer boycotts.

    In addition, all those who have fuelled these attacks with their inflammatory hate speeches must be held accountable. People like Zwelithini should be investigated by the ICC and if found culpable prosecuted. Enough is enough.

  • Xenophobic attack: Reps urges Jonathan to recall envoy

    Xenophobic attack: Reps urges Jonathan to recall envoy

    In response to the continuous xenophobic attacks on Africans in South Africa, President Goodluck Jonathan Has been advised by the House to, as a matter of urgency, recall Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the country pending when the attacks will stop.

    The lawmakers warned that Nigeria will no longer tolerate killings of its citizens.

    The resolution followed the adoption of the prayers (as amended) of a motion of urgent matter of public importance by the Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora Matters, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

    It is sad that the recent attacks that has left many dead, businesses and shops vandalised, many beaten up, was incited by a statement by the South African Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini.

    The King was alleged to have ordered African migrants to return their country as they are no longer welcome in South Africa.

    In their resolution, the lawmakers also appealed to the federal government to apply the diplomatic principle of reciprocity in dealing with South Africa.

    The lawmakers added that if South Africa continues to frustrate Nigeria businesses, Nigeria must also do the same to South Africa businesses in the country.

    In addition, the lawmakers stated Nigeria frowns at the attacks and will no longer tolerate the killing of its nationals in South Africa.

    President Goodluck Jonathan must immediately convey this to President Zuma as a matter of urgency.

  • Xenophobia: Rep calls for evacuation of Nigerians from S/Africa

    Xenophobia: Rep calls for evacuation of Nigerians from S/Africa

    Rep. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, Chairperson, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, has called for the evacuation of Nigerians within 24 hours from South Africa owing to ongoing attacks on non-indigenes.

    Ukeje (PDP-Abia) made the appeal in a phone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Ibadan.

    She said that the call was necessary because of increasing attacks on Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike in South Africa.

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria should rise up to the occasion by having contingency plans to evacuate Nigerians within 24 hours to avoid us losing our citizens to these attacks.

    “It is expedient to think of where all Nigerians can gather within 24 hours for safety either in our embassy or mission for the safety of our citizens,’’ she said.

    The lawmaker suggested that a concrete arrangement with some airlines should be made to evacuate Nigerians back home.

    She also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to equally mobilise to take care of the returnees.

    Ukeje noted with concern that that the xenophobia was degenerating to Afrophobia as many black Africans, including Nigerians, were being attacked from Johannesburg to Durban.

    She advised the Nigerian government against delay till some of her citizens are killed in the latest attacks before implementing its citizen diplomacy policy.

    “Unfortunately, there is no serious condemnation from South Africa government on this attacks, hence the need for Nigerian government to be proactive and rescue her citizens as soon as possible,’’ she said.

    She expressed surprise that South Africa that housed African Parliament and other institutions of Africa in the continent could descend so low to the extent of her nationals attacking other Africans living in that country.

    Ukeje said her committee was in close contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to see what could be done to protect Nigerians in South Africa, while the House is to engage relevant stakeholders on the matter.

    Rep. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, also told NAN on phone that a motion on the issue would be tabled during the plenary session of the House.

    Dabiri-Erewa (APC-Lagos) condemned the attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa, saying it was disgusting for South Africans to be treating Nigerians like that despite the Nigeria’s role during the apartheid struggle.

    NAN reports that Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, Minister of State II, for Foreign Affairs, has said that no Nigerian was killed in the attack against foreigners in South Africa.

    “We are following the developments in South Africa and efforts are being made to protect Nigerian citizens in South Africa,’’ Obanikoro assured.