A Bond That Must Never Be Broken (II)

Femi Fani-Kayode

What has made the situation even more tense is the fact that the spokesman of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mr. Vincent Magwenya, issued a statement on 15th July accusing Nigeria and Ghana of “spreading fake news” and orchestrating an attempt to “misrepresent South Africa” and drag her before international institutions for formal sanctions.

Whilst it is true that Nigeria, Ghana and ECOWAS intend to take this matter up at the African Union, it is FALSE to allege that either country is spreading ‘fake news’.

I wonder whether Magwenya will also claim that the events of 1995, 1998, 2000, 2008, 2015, 2019 and 2024, each of which witnessed the targetting and cold-blooded murder of African nationals including Nigerians, by wild, violent and spear-wielding black South African mobs, were also ‘fake news’ and not clear evidence of Afrophobia? These attacks have become endemic.

In 2008 alone 62 African nationals were killed and tens of thousands displaced during the attacks and this is not a misrepresentation but an incontrovertible fact!

The orgy of violence against African nationals that we are witnessing in South Africa today are not isolated events but are part and parcel of a well-orchestrated ritualistic cycle of bloodshed and afrophobic hate which raises its head on a regular basis. This is a problem that the South African Government must acknowledge.

The truth of the matter is that Afrophobia is alive and well in South Africa and has resulted in the murder of many African nationals, the displacement of many of our people and the pillaging, theft and destruction of their legitimate businesses, properties and lawful possessions.

If there was no Afrophobia in South Africa as the South African Presidency would have us believe then what informed the June 30th deadline for African nationals, including Nigerians, to leave their country and why was the federal government constrained to fly no less than 1,500 of our nationals who had been living in mortal fear for their lives and camping in the grounds of the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria for safety, in six separate plane flights out of South Africa and back home over the last two months at the cost of over 2 million USD!

If there was no Afrophobia in South Africa why were 150,000 African nationals forced to flee for their lives and be repatriated to their respective countries by their respective Governments over the last three months? If there was no Afrophobia in South Africa how can armed mobs arrest African nationals, including Nigerians, in the streets and storm shops, hospitals, industrial sites, factories, farms, companies, schools, restaurants, homes, corporate offices and elsewhere demanding that all foreign black Africans working there must be thrown out immediately.

In some cases those that carry out these crimes claim to be policemen but blatantly refuse to provide any form identification whilst at other times officers of the South African Police Service stand by silently and witness the events refusing to do anything about it. That is how bad things are.

Again if there was no Afrophobia in South Africa why are two Ghanaian nationals, Mr. Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, a former Government spokesman and Mr. Emmanuel Kotin, a terrorism analyst, accusing South Africa of crimes against humanity and filing a petition against her at the International Criminal Court (ICC)!

News Central Nigerian journalist Princess Sazi, who is in South Africa, reports that, “children born and raised in South Africa are now living in makeshift camps after xenophobic attacks forced their families to leave. With their education disrupted and futures uncertain, many are preparing to return to a country they barely know”.

If there was no xenophobia or Afrophobia in South Africa how could this be going on? If there was no Afrophobia how do you explain the plight of the Malawians who have suffered more than any other and the Congolese, one of whom was burnt alive in his home?

If there was no Afrophobia how do you explain the fact that Nigerians have fled their homes, come from far and wide all over South Africa and are now camping outside the gates of the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria with nowhere else to go?

What we are dealing with is a sheer wickedness and racism in its rawest and most primitive form and it has resulted in a massive and avoidable humanitarian crisis that cannot be ignored. If something is not done about it at the soonest it will get worse and more lives will be lost.

The presidential spokesman also spoke of “devastating economic consequences” for Nigeria and Ghana if either ever contemplated the idea or implemented the threat of appropriating the funds or assets of South African companies that are based in our respective countries.

His exact words: “So any move to appropriate South African company assets in any of these countries will be counterproductive and will undermine those countries’ economic development aspirations. It will signal that those countries are now closed for trade and business. It will also signal a greater degree of uncertainty of doing business in those countries. It will be a move whose repercussions go beyond South Africa for that matter. We are not overly worried about that talk.”

These are unwise words that have been spoken against two brother African nations that harbour no ill-will towards South Africa and that have merely expressed their collective concerns about the welfare of their nationals in a nation where they are being subjected to hateful sentiments, vile persecution and mortal danger.

We are worried that our nationals are in a country in which they are being subjected to apartheid-like subjugation, oppression, humiliation, dehumanisation and violence. Must we wait until they are subjected to a Rwanda-like genocide or massive pogrom before we register our fears, concerns and displeasure?

Must thousands of our people be subjected to mass murder and ethnic cleansing before the South African Government gives the matter serious attention?

Surely the best way forward is to assure us that they will be well protected and not attempt to give us lectures about the supposedly “devastating economic consequences” of doing what many of our citizens are urging us to do but which we have so far refused to do.

A de-escalation of this matter is the wisest course for South Africa to take because to escalate it would result in a series of unforeseen consequences. You do not threaten us when our people are being subjected to violence by armed local militias and angry mobs.

The Presidential spokesman would do far better by offering his profound and sincere apologies and to provide us with assurances that the violence that we are witnessing on their streets against our nationals and other African nations will stop.

On our part we cannot be expected to sit by silently and wait until our people are subjected to even greater violence before we take strong action. Respectful dialogue is the way out of this conundrum and not threats of “devastating economic consequences” against our nation. Nigeria is far too big for that and I daresay so is Ghana. Sadly the concerns of our leaders have been met with deflection.

Permit me to share just one example. Despite the outrage that Minister Ntshavheni’s words provoked in our country, when asked directly by Nigerian journalist Ireti Bakare-Yusuf during the course of a Ministerial press conference in Pretoria whether she would take the opportunity to offer an apology to Nigerians, South African Minister of Justice Mmamoloko Kubayi interjected, refused to allow Ntshavheni to answer for herself and instead responded on her behalf by saying, “I don’t think Minister Ntshaveni needs to issue an apology. When she spoke, she spoke on behalf of South Africa”.

The truth is that whatever the Minister of Justice of South Africa or anyone else says the import of Minister Ntshaveni’s words is alarming. Surely we must priotize respectful dialogue between our two nations in an attempt to strengthen bilateral relations and put our collective enemies to shame.

We consider South Africa to be an ally, a respected fellow African country and an important trading partner and one wonders why Minister Tshaveni harbours such ill-will towards us. There is no doubt that some Nigerians are involved in crime, including drug dealing, in South Africa just as some South Africans indulge in crimes in nations outside their own, but the insidious innuendo that ALL Nigerians in South Africa are drug dealers is false and unacceptable.

Racial stereotyping is dangerous and demonising an entire race and referring to them as drug dealers is provocative.

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world and has been described as the “world’s homicide capital” (58 South Africans are murdered per day) but that does not mean that it is rational or acceptable to label ALL South Africans as murderers.

South Africa has the highest rate of HIV in the world but that does not mean that all South Africans are irresponsible or careless and it would be a gratuitous insult for anyone to say so.

Divisive comments like those coming from Minister Tshaveni can be expected from the afrophobia in organisations like March on March but certainly not from South African Government officials.

Permit me to remind the Minister that there are no less than 120 South African companies operating successfully and that are making millions of dollars in Nigeria and no South African company or national has ever been persecuted, threatened or subjected to racial stereotyping in our country.

According to Ralph Mupita, the Chief Executive Officer of the MTN Group, 82% of his company’s revenue is generated from outside of South Africa and in Africa with only 12% generated from within South Africa itself. He argued that Pan-African economic integration and co-operation and not isolation are essential for the continent’s future growth and prosperity.

He is right and it is clear that such “economic integration and cooperation” is equally important to the economic growth and prosperity of MTN itself given the fact that the company makes no less than 12 million USD per day in Nigeria alone! To lose the Nigerian market would diminish the fortunes of MTN and it’s South African shareholders.

And there are many other South African companies in Nigeria such as MultiChoice, DSTV, GOTV, Showmax, Shoprite, Standard Bank, Stanbic IBTC and others whose fortunes are equally blessed.

If nothing else does that not prove to Minister Tshaveni and those that think like her that we are not a nation that has nothing to offer?

•Chief Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Culture and Tourism, a former Minister of Aviation and the Ambassador-designate of Nigeria to South Africa