Mind-boggling tales on Nigerianphobia in South Africa
Written by Kenneth Ehigiator
Tuesday, 04 December 2007
If you ask any Nigerian resident in any part of South Africa the major challenge he faces living in the country, his sure response is insipid hatred from the citizens of the country, white, coloured or black. Of course, that of the blacks is mostly noticeable because they are in majority in terms of population. The position of ordinary Nigerians on the streets of South Africa is not different from that of the Nigerian Consulate or High Commission in the country. The inhibitions Nigerians are faced with as a result of the phobia South Africans have for them recently propelled Bellview Airlines to organise in Johannesburg a forum for South Africa-based Nigerian journalists, their South African counterparts and officials of Nigeria’s Consulate in that country, led by the Consul-General, Ambassador Sani Muhammad.
Convener of the parley and Bellview Airlines’ Country Manager in South Africa, Mrs. Kemi Ilori, said the forum had become necessary because the phobia of South Africans for Nigerians was preventing Nigerians involved in genuine businesses there from actualising their dreams.
She told the gathering that South African journalists were particularly invited to be part of the discussions because the South Africa media had been a veritable tool for perpetration of the hatred against Nigerians.
Revelations at the forum revealed that editors in South African media have made up their minds what to play up about Nigeria, to the extent that if it is not negative, it is not newsworthy. Tales were told by some South African journalists of how editors throw away scripts on the positive exploits of Nigerians resident in the country.
For instance, Nigerian journalists resident in South Africa lamented that not even a mention was made in the South African media of the Golden Eaglets’s victory in the just concluded FIFA Under-17 World Cup in South Korea.
Mention was also made of a Nigerian surgeon who led a team of physicians to perform the first separation of co-joined twins in South Africa. Vanguard learnt that while the names of the South African members of the team were celebrated in the media, mention was not made of the Nigerian that led the team.
Furthermore, a Nigerian scientist who recently invented a machine for eye operation was reportedly honoured by the South African government for the feat, but unfortunately, the feat was unreported in the South Africa media.
On the issue of crime and drug, Nigeria’s Consul-General in Johannesburg, Ambassador Sani Muhammad, regretted that South Africans and even their security agencies have labelled all Nigerians criminals and drug peddlers, though that is not the case.
According to him, recent statistics released by an agency of the South African government showed that 97% of the crimes committed in South Africa were perpetrated by South Africans themselves, while only a tiny fraction of the remaining 3% involved Nigerians.
Muhammad said several of the criminals who are mainly from Malawi, Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries immediately claim Nigeria whenever they are arrested, adding that they reveal their true nationalities only at the point of deportation.
The ambassador also told the gathering that the Consulate was currently pursuing the prosecution of a South African policeman who wilfully killed a Nigeria without any provocation or committal of offence. He charged South African journalists who were present at the forum thus: "The main issue is one of image. We, at the Consulate, are addressing them and we will continue to address them. I want to appeal to South African journalists who have visited Nigeria to tell the truth about the country."
The Consul, Nigerian Community Relations at the Consulate, Mr Chris Iroala, was not different in his submission. He attributed inferiority complex on the part of black South Africans for their aggression against Nigerians.
According to Iroala, black South Africans are aghast that Nigerians could stand and look at the whites in the face, and thus see them as people who have come to their country to dominate them. "We are really proud people who know what we want and how to go about it.
The immigration officers here go from house to house seeking Nigerians for repatriation, even those with genuine business, without notifying the Consulate. It is not the duty of immigration to tell who is the Nigerian, but that of the Consulate.
We have protested it and we are discussing with the authorities here on the matter, and the discussions have been fruitful," he said.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Bureau Chief in Central and Southern Africa, Mr. Kevin Osazuwa, confirmed the Consul-General’s disclosure that the South African High Commission in Lagos issues visas to Nigerians without means of survival in the country at the expense of those with genuine businesses to do there, just for the sake of collecting non-refundable repatriation fees, stressing that even though he had genuine intentions of coming to South Africa to represent his organisation, the high commission still slammed a repatriation fee of N83,000 on him and has refused to refund the money back to him about five months after.
Osazuwa said several South Africa-based Nigerians were doing well in the country, but was quick to add that their exploits, though celebrated by the South African government, are played down by the media.
He also told a story of how a Nigerian who emerged best law graduate in the whole of South Africa two years ago was denied the opportunity of attending the South African equivalent of Nigeria Law School simply because she is a Nigerian.
Head, Southern African Bureau of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Tony Ekata, shared a similar thought on the matter, saying South Africans have labelled all Nigerians resident in their country criminals, irrespective of professional and social status.
He said more than 90% of crime committed in South Africa were by South Africans themselves, with people from other Southern African countries as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, etc, dominating the remaining figure of not more than 3%.
He said South Africans’ hatred for Nigerians was deep-seated, wondering why this is so, considering the role played by Nigeria and Nigerians to liberate the blacks from the shackles of apartheid.
Alternate chairman of Nigerian Union in South Africa, Mr. Debo Sodeke, blamed the local people’s attitude towards Nigerians on ignorance and lack of exposure.
He said the long years of suppression the blacks were put through during the apartheid era has affected their psyche, to the extent that they have been brain-washed to see fellow blacks, especially Nigerians, as people who have come to take opportunities away from them.
Sodeke, however, said his union was working hard to change the perceived bad image of Nigeria in the country. Another Nigerian journalists based in South Africa, Segun Dipe, noted that there was an improvement in the relationships between black South Africans and the Nigerian community at the moment, adding that the situation was really bad for Nigerians within the first few years after the collapse of apartheid.
According to him, the hatred for Nigerians that subsists is foisted and promoted by the whites who control the economy, police force and the media. "Because the whites control the economy and those other institutions, they use them to rule the minds of the blacks to see other blacks as enemies," Dipe said.
He said Nigerian journalists in South Africa would continue to interface with the media in the country to change the perception they have of Nigeria and her people. Dipe equally suggested that Nigerian media organisations set up offices in South Africa to counter the negative reporting of the country by the South African media.
However, mention was immediately made of efforts made by ThisDay Newspapers and Daar Communications to set up in South Africa and how they were frustrated out by the South African authorities.
Other Nigerian journalists who spoke at the forum never stop highlighting the sacrifices Nigeria and her people made to liberate South Africa from apartheid; how Nigeria became a frontline state in the struggle against apartheid, even though she was located thousands of kilometers away.
A South African journalist, Gugu Sibiya, who spoke on behalf of other South African journalists at the forum, said after listening to stories of roles played by the Nigerian government and Nigerians to liberate blacks from white man’s domination in apartheid South Africa, that there was need for Nigeria to blow her trumpet over this.
According to her, not too many black South Africans of this generation are aware of the sacrifices made by Nigerians to give them freedom. Sibiya said much of the negative perception South Africans have of Nigeria was perpetrated by the media controlled by the whites.
She said editors in South African media organisations already have a mindset about Nigeria, that of a country where nothing good can come from. Sibiya said each time she submitted stories on positive things being done by Nigerians in South Africa, she was accused by her editors of either having an affair with a Nigerian and, therefore, duty bound to defend his country, or that she was paid to do so. She said South African newspapers use negative stories about Nigeria to sell their papers.
"The only stories they want to hear about Nigeria is that of crime, drug and such stories are played up boldly on front pages to sell the papers," said Sibiya, who said her frequent visit to Nigeria had since changed her perception of the country and its people.
Sibiya, who claimed to be a close friend of the Anyiam-Osigwes, stressed the need for such editors to be taken on trips to Nigeria. "Perhaps that may change their perception," she added.
Sibiya said her years of interactions with Nigerians have shown that they are very warm, hardworking and upwardly mobile people that South Africans could tap so much from, if all suspicions in the way of the relationships between them were removed.
She also said the previous dispensations at the Consulate or High Commission have not been forthcoming about participating in events that could educate South Africans about Nigeria and her people, but gave kudos to the current Consul-General for his efforts at engendering this.
Bellview Airlines’ Public Affairs Head, Mr. Habib Muhammad, said the time has come for black South Africans to take their destinies in their own hands, adding that Nigerians could help them to actualise this, if they interfaced with them.
According to him, apartheid may have been defeated in South Africa, but black South Africans are not yet free. Muhammad noted that with the way the South African economy is currently structured, blacks may not rise beyond certain level in realising their dreams, wondering why they are not working with Nigerians to improve their lots.
The Bellview spokesman said if white South Africans could come to Nigeria to make so much money, the blacks were better placed to make more if they eliminate their hatred against Nigerians and work with them because, according to him, Nigeria is a land of opportunities.
"The average Nigerian could look at the whiteman in the face, but the blacks cannot. I sincerely think the blacks can tap into this courage of Nigerians to empower themselves," he said.
One important message guests took away was the need for the Nigerian government to make noise about the role it played in the struggle against apartheid, as this, according to the people who spoke at the forum, will go a long way in reshaping the attitudes of South Africans towards the country and Nigerians, especially those resident there.
In this regard, the High Commission in South Africa was asked to be more proactive in championing the enlightenment of South Africans about the virtues, culture and exploits of Nigeria in the international community, especially with regards to her peace-keeping roles in Africa and beyond.
Story source:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2531&Itemid=49
![Nairaland [Nigerian Forum] Home](http://www.nairaland.com/Themes/default/images/english/home.gif)
Author
giant of west Africa will do just fine
