The recent xenophobia incident in South Africa is
a food for thought for every patriotic Nigerian and
indeed African. As Africans, we have for ages seen
one another as our brother’s keepers – and as
the cliché goes – blood is thicker than water.
Other races around the globe may not be able to
say this about themselves. As Africans, we always
tolerate one another except on some peculiar
situations where the visiting nationals from other
African nations become a burden for the home
country.

That said, the root cause of xenophobia in South
Africa is not unrelated with the debilitating efforts
of apartheid on South African citizens and on the
history of the country. This is where it behoves
us to have sympathy for South Africa and her
people. It will take time with good planning and
good leadership to overcome the evil of apartheid
in South Africa. It is not something that the
leadership can wish away. It is a generation of
hurt; it requires the work of dedicated leaders with
the help of the best in the country.

The Dutch policy of apartheid in South Africa was
evil; it was the worst political policy in the world
comparable only to that of Nazi Germany that
resulted in the extermination of about six million
Jews. Apartheid took away the dignity of man and
reduced people to animals. People were
processed like cattle in their own country. It was
humiliating and degrading. People were subjected
to that kind of inhuman treatment for a long time,
until recently when Nelson Mandela paid the price
and set the black free.
During their ordeal, African brothers and sisters
around the globe rallied round them. Nigeria in
particular played a dominant role morally and
financially in putting up programmes, which
involved the academics and prominent Nigerians.

It called the attention of the world to what was
going on in the apartheid enclave during the
repressive years; Nigeria was in the forefront of
the campaign to tear down the wall of apartheid in
government. We were all involved on personal
levels and I lost my scholarship at the University
of Denver in Colorado, USA in November 1970
because of my involvement in the campaign
against apartheid in the US. The Director of
Foreign Students, Ms Davis, called me to her
office and said to me: “We brought you here to
give you good education not to play politics; if
you want to do politics, you wait until you get
back to your country.”
So, there is merit in all the emotional concern
about what is going on in South Africa affecting
Nigerians and other Africans negatively in the land
we love, in the country we protected as our own.

The younger generation of South Africans may not
know this, but surely the Zulu king knows;
President Jacob Zuma and the elite in the ruling
class know about our sacrifices. Maybe, we need
to bring them to good reasoning.
Some Nigerians have been talking about reprisal
and other negative actions. I think such actions
can only worsen the situation. I will only suggest
that we explore how we can come to the aid of
South Africa either by government-to-government
or institution-to-institution. This is not saying we
run their government for them but there would be
some areas where they need help to assuage the
effects of their past negative experience of
apartheid. Such negative effects can have
traumatic and debilitating effects on the psyche of
a people.
Fortunately, Mandela has paid the price. They are
now a free people and their destiny is in their
hands.

Moses Dele Adeola, Lagos

http://www.punchng.com/opinion/south-africa-needs-our-sympathy/

Cc. lalasticlala ishilove

Not even a single comment, na so ya'll hate south Africa reach

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