Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! - Foreign Affairs (23) - Nairaland
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| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Nobody: 6:40pm On May 25, 2008 |
thought they loved naija peepz  then wat the hell y'all waitin' 4 go bust the Embassy |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by rasputinn(m): 7:02pm On May 25, 2008 |
CHECK OUT THIS PIECE ON SOUTH AFRICA The Butchers of Alexandra The Pendulum By Dele Momodu,Email:delemomodu@thisdayonline.com, 05.24.2008 I love South Africa. The country is unarguably one of the most beautiful, and hottest, destinations on earth. It was during my first visit to that breath-taking nation some years ago that I began to understand why those racist leaders didn’t want to hand over the country to the original owners of the land. South Africa is a great testimony to the power of imagination, and determination. Sentiments apart, the white South Africans must have worked hard to build a paradise on earth. Whatever you find in Europe or America, South Africa parades a superior version of her own I have since toured a few of its best known cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, and continue to marvel at the advancement already achieved by South Africa above other nations. I love the food and wines of South Africa. My favourite spot is a beautiful restaurant famously known as the Butcher’s Shop, located at the Mandela Square in Sandton. I salivate regularly for its exotic oxtail, and the assortment of sea-foods, and the oven-fresh bread. There’s hardly any delicious meat you won’t find at this joint of the lovers of good life. They butcher the meat or sea-foods any way you want it, the reason the place is packed full every evening. But that is not my topic today. Not too far from this ultra-modern Sandton city is the Alexandra township, which covers an area of about eight square kilometers. It has a population close to half-a-million. Some of these residents occupy over 20,000 poor dwellings called “shacks”. These dwellings are not fit for human beings, yet the community had been inhabited, once upon a time, by some famous people, including Nelson Mandela, Zanele Thabo-Mbeki, Samora Machel, and Hugh Masekela. If Sandton is famous for The Butcher’s Shop, Alexandra, on its part has gained notoriety for its own acts of debauchery. Animals are not butchered here but human beings, who are slaughtered like Sallah rams. All manner of weapons are employed: knives, axes, sticks, and guns, and, of amazing necessity, matches. The bad boys derive inspiration from cheap drugs like marijuana, as they comb the streets for their preys. They chant hate songs, and descend mercilessly on the so-called foreigners who have come to share in what they think is inadequate for them. The anti-immigrant riots erupted recently, like in the past, from the acute frustrations of many South African youths who have little or no education, no jobs, and are forced to live in shelters fit only for animals. Yet these kids wake up daily to see, just a stone throw away, the most sophisticated existence known to mankind. Many of these kids are seen at intersections everywhere in big cities just hanging around aimlessly. The best of them hawk newspapers, or flowers, or pretending to be doing something, and under that pretence pounce on their victims. South Africa has been very notorious for crime. The commonest in recent time was to trail airport passengers, especially cash-carrying Nigerians, to their hotels, where they are promptly dispossessed of everything. I know of many big Nigerians who have been robbed, and made to look stupid by these recalcitrant kids, most of whom are forced to take to crime. Many years after the death of apartheid regime in South Africa, the dream of the Blacks to acquire a new status seems to have been dashed. The lack of good education for most of the Black kids has sentenced them to lives of squalor. Even if there are jobs, they will never be able to qualify. Many are thus forced to take to drugs as a therapy against the worst form of poverty and diseases. This explains the preponderance of HIV-related epidemic in South Africa. Those who have jobs earn far little to pay their bills, or are still forced to work under some juvenile whites due to a new form of systematic apartheid. I was confronted by such an ugly spectre recently at the popular Michelangelo Hotel, in Sandton, where a young white manager was extremely rude to us. I had two guests, Kunle of African Magic, and a member of the musical group KC Presh who had come to visit me at the hotel. They were to be joined by other friends, who when they arrived were not allowed by the hotel security to come up to my room. I thought may be my personal attention was needed to get clearance for my guests, but I was dead wrong. I went down to speak to the adamant security who insisted I should speak to the guys at the front desk, to which I obliged again. At the front desk, I was advised to speak to the manager on duty, who turned out to be a very young, and an extremely cocky boy. I told him my guests were not allowed up to my room, to which he replied that that was the hotel policy, and that no guests were allowed up after six in the evening. I told him that no one informed me of such a backward policy when I was checking in, and that I would have gone somewhere else where I would not be imprisoned. I also argued further that from standing by the lift, not a single white had been asked for his ID, nor stopped from entering the lift. The young boy told me the hotel security recognized all those whites as guests, to which I told him that that was not humanly possible, in such a gargantuan hotel. He stood his ground, and I stood mine, as I maintained I would love to see the whites show their IDs like the rest of us, to which he replied very rudely that he could give me a chair by the lift and make me some tea to take over the job of screening the white guests. I could not believe my ears. He even threatened to call the police if I acted funny. I told him he was very welcome, since I knew I had committed no crime to warrant such an act of empty intimidation. I could not believe my eyes as I saw the white guests, in their various stages of drunkenness, enter the lifts with their partners, some of whom looked obviously like prostitutes from the red-light districts. Talking of prostitutes, South Africa is one place you regularly see young girls pull up their skirts right in the middle of the roads to expose their private parts to motorists, as a form of advertisement. The security guys whispered to me that the so-called law to debar guests in the evening was truly enforced against the Blacks only, and that they were impressed that I could challenge the racist policy. You could see frustration, and helplessness boldly written on their faces. I was so enraged by the shabby treatment at Michelangelo that I wasted no time in checking out in the morning, and headed to my old reliable Hilton Sandton, where we were treated to the august presence of super babe, Paris Hilton, the daughter of the Hilton owner, the fun-loving girl who was in town to attend a concert with her musician boyfriend. If ordinary visitors like us are subjected to such indignities, you can then imagine the deep frustrations of the shanty boys who see civilization pass them by everyday, and yet cannot enjoy the same luxury, like a minority of their fellow citizens. Many of them, rightly or wrongly, have come to the conclusion that their misery is further compounded by foreigners who have come to live illegally in South Africa, and have taken the few available jobs. The immigrants serve as cheaper forms of labour to the locals who are prone to demanding their full rights. These immigrants include Zimbabweans who are running away from the debilitating effects of hyper-inflation, and mass unemployment, at home. There are the Mozambicans, who share a common history of oppression with the South Africans. Of course, we have the ubiquitous Nigerians, who no matter how poor would always stand tall, and proud, like the peacock. The aim of the rioters was to flush out these aliens from another planet, may be. Some were burnt to dead. Some were badly injured, if lucky enough to escape with their dear lives. Violence in South Africa is possibly the most scandalous in Africa. Nearly 20,000, according to reports, were slain in South Africa, last year alone. The butchers did not spare the life of their extremely popular artiste, Lucky Dube, who was so unlucky to be murdered while his child watched the horror movie. In the latest carnage, over 28,000 people have been displaced, 42 reportedly killed, hundreds injured, and about 400 arsonists arrested. South Africa’s police and the army had to be drafted on the streets. Hostels were raided, and 150 kilos of marijuana and other drugs were seized, along with firearms. The streets of Alexandra, and other areas were turned into a senseless orgy of violence against the fellow Blacks. South Africa was turned into Daniel Oroleye Fagunwa’s forest of a thousand demons. What was shown on CNN was a total collapse of law and order, and a retrogression to the colony of wild boars, who decorated the necks of their victims with car tires, filled with petrol before setting them ablaze. The horror movie has been shown repeatedly on CNN, and it is baffling to see that Africa has not made much progress in the comity of nations. If America, or Europe decides to eject all illegal immigrants, the world would cry foul. Now imagine if we were to be roasted like corn. Refugees enjoy better deal in those places, in fact much better than in any part of Africa. It is indeed a great shame, and the anti-foreigners who litter all the streets of Africa should bury their heads in perpetual shame. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by boyyyyyyyy(m): 7:41pm On May 25, 2008 |
sad |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by SENATORJD(m): 7:59pm On May 25, 2008 |
@raputtin, nice bringing out bro.thats y i've always got your back am sure some unthinking folks would still come and have something wrong to say about it "its a nigerian paper" so it can't be true.,., to hell with them, am waiting, eagerly wating for them to come and start their rantlings again.if at this stage u find nothing wrong with the killings then sincerely u've got issues beleieve me u really do. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by triaophant: 11:50pm On May 25, 2008 |
Some people are to say the least very empty in their brain, otherwise how can someone say that Nigerian press report inaccurately the events in South Africa? So we should only believe in what the South African press are dishing to us. Of course we know that those are ordinary public relations gimmick. Any reasonable person will know that in a riot nobody has time to identify who is from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Nigeria etc. They are all regarded as unwanted black foreigners and therefore deserve to die. Tell me what is life when your source of livelihood is destroyed by your supposed African brother? If all was well why was the South African Deputy president or what in Abuja apologising to Nigerian government for the killings and destruction? Why did the South African President meet The Nigerian President in Arusha, Tanzania? Why did he not meet other African Presidents? I still repeat, Nigerians are victims and some have been killed in South Africa because I have the privilege of meeting some people who escaped from the killings and are back home. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Kobojunkie: 11:55pm On May 25, 2008 |
How many Nigerians have been killed? Do you have some evidence to back up your claim that at least one Nigerian has been killed |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by triaophant: 12:45am On May 26, 2008 |
We are still compiling the data for record purposes, when they are fully ready, we SHALL make them public for doubting Thomases like you to see. I am not here to join issues with people like you. If there is a person that should talk about facts, I think I am in a better position, but I have gone through your posts, and I am sorry to say it they are most irresponsible. You claim to be a Nigerian living in South Africa, but to me by your utterances, you seem to be an ordinary refugee. You seem not to see anything good in your countrymen or your country. I certainly have my reservations,otherwise how come that a full bloodied Nigerian like you claim will be talking rubbish and attacking every other patriotic Nigerian the have said one thing or the other condemning the happenings in South Africa against your fellow countrymen. I have already collected back the money I paid for a conference in South Africa as a result of the disgusting incidents there.My only regret is that most Nigerians failed to listen to the security alert raised by The Nigerian National Assembly and the Foreign Ministry. You never see anything good about Nigeria, you are a disgrace to the nation if truly you are a Nigerian which I am beginning to doubt. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Kobojunkie: 1:45am On May 26, 2008 |
I am sorry that you can not seem to stand another having an opinion different from yours but you have still not answered the simple questions. You have gone on to claim Nigerians were killed( strong claim) but you have no single evidence to back up such a claim?? People who live right there in Gauteng have come on here to tell us that No Nigeria has been killed so far but you believe just cause you say, according to your reasoning, that Nigerians were killed means Nigerians were killed?? I would rather you wait till you have evidence or put together your facts before you go about spouting what you are not sure of. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Kobojunkie: 8:03am On May 26, 2008 |
Still no news of actual Nigerian deaths. Nigerian businesses are at stake even as other businesses are. In response, a Nigerian posted the comment below.
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| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by superboi(m): 12:01pm On May 26, 2008 |
please mister triophant this is an open forum where people of different opinion are entertained, it is democractic and noy dictotorial so he must not share your view. abi u be obasonjo |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by SkyBlue1: 1:56pm On May 26, 2008 |
This thread has been something else that is for sure. While i in no way defend what happened, i keep on maintaining that people get more shocked and want to act on issues that affect Nigerians only when it is outside Nigeria. What is even funnier is when people say Nigerians should just leave that "yeye place" and return home, as if Nigeria is paradise. I love Nigeria passionately and there is no place like it. However you want people to leave a country where they have electricity, water and a means to earn something resembling a living without being forced to play house boy or thug to some political ingrate or party to come to Nigeria where all of these and much more apply?? What i even find more interesting is when people automatically take people who want to be honest about the situation in Nigeria and are even more shocked about what is happening to people in our own country as being unpatriotic. I simply just don't get it to say the least. Almondjoy/Xiomarra came on ( a Nigerian herself if i am not mistaken) and people just went bersek LOL. Her posts always keep me entertained and are so to the point that's for sure (the responses it then gets never fail to amuse). Completely misplaced anger. It is like a family member coming into your house and saying there is feaces on the floor and then you get angry and beat the person up and then go back to living with the feaces. How does this relate to south africa you might add? Do you know how many people will be willing to give up a highly competitive salary abroad to simply go back to Nigeria and work just so they can be at home? If only they could simply be ensured the basics like electricity, water, etc, and know they won't have to keep cutting part of their salary as settlement for the armed robber that will be coming monthly? All this complaining about the incident is understandable. However i am just lost for understanding at why it is only when something happens outside Nigeria that we want to act. What about boycotting the Nigerian government? What about leading protest in Abuja to the house of assembly? But if a Nigerian catches cold in Ghana all hell will break lose in Nigeria. Someone said Nigeria is this Nigeria is that, ARE YOU MAD? GOOD. NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? Instead of doing something worthwhile, waste more time and focus on insulting this person? And this is not the horse before the cart situation? Do we have a country to be proud off? Now what are we as Nigerians doing about it? This so called greatness of Nigeria eludes me. A country that has the potential to but is unwilling to take care of and provide for its citizens? |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by shesi(m): 2:43pm On May 26, 2008 |
I've been visiting this site every now and again for about 2 years. This is my very first post. This topic is worth it. What is happening is SA is just appalling. I know it is just a minority engaging in these acts but the response of the whole country, including and especially their leaders, has been very dissapointing. It's like deep down majority of SAfricans agree the reasoning (maybe not the methods) of these people behind these acts. Otherwise it would have been stemmed way before now. The initial response was painfully slow. I even saw one white SA idiot in a youtube video stating all sorts of stupid facts about nigerians to back his backyard wannabe anthropologist views. That guy was so annoying. The link is somewhere in this thread. But this is an african disease in general. Us nigerians shouldn't be too quick to judge. Our "ghana must go" movement in the 80s was just as disgraceful. Eventhough that was mostly non-violent. Maybe most of you are too young to remember this but Ghana was perhaps the most instrumental ally in our quest for independence from the British. After Ghana gained independence, they automatically became the spiritual home of all the other sub-saharan african activists fighting for independence themselves. Infact, the Nigerian independence movement was once headquartered in Ghana. This was in the late 50s. I myself went to secondary school in Ghana, where Kenneth Kaunde, later to be president of Zambia was my senior, and Robert Mugabe ( yes the same one) was my english teacher at one time. When Ghana's economy turned south as a result of coup after coup in the 70s, and a lot of ghanaians were coming to Nigeria, what was our reaction?, the same. Non-violent but same ideology none-the-less. Now that they are on the rise, look at the number of nigerians living and travelling to europe through their country. Sometimes even using ghanaian passports. The lesson is this: South Africans are a disgrace!, lol, All of them. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Kobojunkie: 3:28pm On May 26, 2008 |
Sky Blue: |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by romeo(m): 4:05pm On May 26, 2008 |
superboi: And why are you telling him this when you know that this is a free world? that was his opinion too!! Kobojunkie: are you living in Guateng too? people told you and people told him too!! |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by superboi(m): 4:52pm On May 26, 2008 |
mr romeo abi na juliet(ha-ha)  i believe ur freedom of speech does not include wanting to suppress others or insulting their persons for opposing view especially in a forum like this, you maybe free to express ur own opinion but not insult people,especially in matter like this topic. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Kobojunkie: 4:56pm On May 26, 2008 |
romeo: People told him what That Nigerians were killed?? Is there evidence to support such claims?? Just cause people tell me something does not mean I should not be expected to provide evidence for such claims, if I CHOOSE TO SPREAD SUCH CLAIMS AS MY TRUTH. No reports out of South Africa so far has spelled out those claims that Nigerians have been killed. People in Gauteng have come in to tell us that No Nigerians have been killed. Even international New media has yet to claim that Nigerians were killed. But Someone somewhere comes in to claim Nigerians were killed and asking for evidence is ill?? You mean we should no go off debating without some substance that such claims are real?? Is that how you would prefer it?? People come in to make bogus claims and we all accept it as truth Are we willing to apply that mode of thinking to the running of our individual lives as well??I have been to Gauteng and I don't believe the media is trying to hide much from you so why do you instead want to believe there is a conspiracy to hide information from Nigerians when there is none to hide information from the rest of Africa |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by ayod2: 5:10pm On May 26, 2008 |
I wouldn't say boycott is the answer. Demonic spirits r contagious. When T.Mbeki was Meeting with R.Mugabe (what do they call him?) and the world was expecting South Africa to prevail on him to stop the crack down on the opposition he made a ridiculous statement that there was no problem in Zimbabwe. Now the Killing spirit has reached his country & he is weeping like a baby. When you choose to turn a blind eye when others need your help, you are foolishly forgeting that you will one day need theirs. South Africa should stop this madness before it spreads to other volatile countries of Africa.  "Na God go deliver poor man we de kill another poor man"  |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by romeo(m): 5:23pm On May 26, 2008 |
superboi: Are you not doing the same thing (insulting) by calling me Juliet when you know i am not that? anyway it's your own freedom of speech Kobojunkie: Why can't you wait and see like he said? How sure are you that only 42 people died in south africa? or that a Nigeria is not among? the governments may decide to hide some facts for the moment that the tensions are so high. Let's just wait and see like he said and not dismissing other people's posts as rubbish only because he's not working for BBC and CNN. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Kobojunkie: 5:34pm On May 26, 2008 |
romeo: Why even bother posting a claim when you do not have evidence ready to back up such claims How sure are you that the reports are not right when they say that only 42 people have been killed so far? How sure are you that a Nigerian is among the dead? The Government may actually be giving you open information and given you all the facts for the moment that the tensions are high. Why wait to see like he said when he made a claim in the past tense What would you think of someone who comes in to tell you your friend is dead and then tells you to hold on that he will come back later to give you evidence Do you think that is the best way to handle things Don't you think it is wiser for him to come in to tell you your friend is dead when he actually is able to back up the claim What if he comes back and it turns out he is wrong Would you be happier thenIf you look up, he happens to be the one dismissing other people's posts as rubbish cause according to him he has SECRET information that they do not have access to. I don't understand how you could have completely missed that to assume I am the one dismissing his post. So far all those, I mean ALL those who have claimed for over a week now that at least one Nigerians has been killed have yet to provide evidence of such claims and you think dismissing is the problem here?? No one is making this about working for CNN or BBC. There are hundreds of international media houses, some even right there in South Africa and yet to substantiate any claims of Nigerians being among the dead. If people who live in South Africa, who also happen to be Nigerians have come up to tell us over and over that Nigerians are not among the dead and Media houses in South Africa and abroad who happen to have access to these places have yet to claim Nigerians among the dead but have openly declared the nationalities of those who they have reported to be among the dead, why do you believe it is ok to continue spreading unsubstantiated rumours What good does that do to the situation or to people out there??I hope you are also this forgiving of people who oppose your view on issues when they do the same. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by 4shyzzy: 5:53pm On May 26, 2008 |
Kobojunkie, you are the man indeed! It is obvious some forumites are thick-brained, no they have pea-brains to say the least becoz i don't know how many countless times have i said to them NO NIGERIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED. Injured maybe, but KILLED? Nada! People want to be told what they want to hear! It's absurd and pathetic. Point is, people are brainwashed by certain newspapers, whose journalists have never set foot in South Africa to witness the inhumane act against our fellow brothers! You have to be here to see it and report it! Period! It cannot get simpler than that. Mind you we do condemn these acts, but I cannot stand people who maliciously report news just to make money, Typical of some nigerians anyways. Most would go out of their way to hustle, even if it means sacrificing the TRUTH! Again NO NIGERIANS were killed! Get your facts or whatever evidence STRAIGHT, something we africans cannot do. And that's why africa is the way it is today.! KOBO, U R THE MAN DUDE! |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by 4shyzzy: 6:00pm On May 26, 2008 |
PS: That's why DELE MOMODU (above) reported what he saw because he was in South Africa to experience it first hand, i.e. IN PERSON. He didn't make up stories, nor dream up something just to make news! |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by darfur(m): 6:19pm On May 26, 2008 |
@nigerians remove the log in your eyes b4 looking at the spec in the south africans' eyes xenophobia is not peculair to south africans. it is global. the response to it is what makes the difference in nigeria, countless times there have been reported killings of ''foreigners'' who are actually fellow nigerians from other parts of the country to the tune of thousands of deaths per riot episode. and this goes on from time to time since I953 till today, no less than 20 times including the ifamous pre-civil war pogrom in the north in which an estimated over 30,000 easterners were killed in the north to the more most recent denmark anti-mohamed cartoon riots where over a hundred were reported to have died. let us build our country with honesty, and diligence. otherwise we'll be pushed aroud wherever we go. i wont be surprised if it happens somewhere else(even UK )as for SA, make FIFA no comot world cup for una hand o |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by emonkey(m): 6:47pm On May 26, 2008 |
Do you think Nigerians are fairly treated abroad ? You can vote for this poll at http://www.rateoga.com/?q=node/129 |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by bibiking1(m): 7:05pm On May 26, 2008 |
Typical of Texaspete to come up with something so rebellious, violence as a response would not solve the problem.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Think (If you can) |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by superboi(m): 7:47pm On May 26, 2008 |
romeo,my brother correct guy na play i be dey play when i write juliet no b insult |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Dreloaded(f): 2:20pm On May 27, 2008 |
So Nigerians have to be killed before people can yell injustice according to Kobojunkie |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Mpele(m): 2:32pm On May 27, 2008 |
This is a recent article from a South Arican newspaper:: No one hates foreigners like we do Rowan Philp Published:May 24, 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One-third of South Africans want all foreigners kicked out — even if they are here legally Related Content Terror reigns as attacks spread to the Cape Scores flee Durban after locals go on rampage How the media stoked the fires Article Tools Print E-Mail Save and Share And our hostility to immigrants — particularly other Africans — is not confined to the poor. South Africa is, officially, the most xenophobic nation in the world. And the country’s wealthy have been exposed as one of the two most hostile groups to immigrants. Building on a World Values Survey on International Attitudes to Immigration, the Southern African Migration Project (Samp) has found that South Africans held the harshest views on foreigners among 29 nations surveyed before 2002. More than 20% of South Africans wanted all foreigners barred from entering the country on any grounds, compared with 13% holding this view in Britain, 11% in China, 4% in the US and 4% in Mozambique. And a new, unpublished Samp survey, conducted 18 months ago , found that this intense xenophobia persists in South Africa — and has grown worse in some cases. One-third of South Africans “(would) support the government deporting all foreigners living in South Africa, even if they are there legally”, according to the survey of 3600 respondents of both genders and all races and income levels. Other nasty attitudes exposed include a belief among most South Africans that all HIV-positive foreigners should be deported — and the conviction held by three-quarters of the respondents that the border fence should be electrified. Responding to the shock findings, political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of President Thabo Mbeki, blamed the government’s “failure to acknowledge the crisis in Zimbabwe, failure to control the borders, and failure to grant these people refugee status” as the “real reason” for levels of xenophobia and the past month’s violence. He said: “Sadly, it does not surprise me that we are the worst in the world on this issue — but certainly the violence could have been avoided.” The Samp data revealed that: 66% of South Africans thought a major reason for foreigners to come to the country was “to commit crimes”; one in five believed it was the sole reason. Only 11% felt they came to “have a better life”; 62% said people from other African countries “take jobs from South Africans” — although only 17% said they actually knew of somebody who had lost out to a foreigner; South Africans have virtually the same negative view of legal immigrants from Nigeria, Angola, Congo and Somalia as they have of illegal aliens; 16% said it was “likely” they would round up a group of individuals to force the (foreigner) to leave; 9% said they were likely to take physical action; and 4% said they were “very likely” to do so; and Although much greater sympathy was shown towards migrants with refugee status, 53% of South Africans believed all refugees should be housed in camps near the border. On a 0-to-10 scale, where “10” is “not at all xenophobic”, South Africans scored a hateful 3.9. The most xenophobic South African groups, both with scores of 3.7, were found to be the poorest, earning R499 or less a month, and the richest — those with a monthly income of more than R20000. But all South Africans — although slightly more women than men — were hostile to foreigners. For black South Africans, it’s personal. The 2006 World Values Survey — also not yet published — showed that 21.3% of black South Africans did not want an immigrant living next door , compared with roughly 1% of whites, coloureds and Indians. Black South Africans were significantly more suspicious of black African migrants than immigrants from Europe or North America. Analysts said the high levels of xenophobia “do not mean we are bad people”. Instead, University of Pretoria Professor Hussein Solomon, former immigrants project head for the Institute for Security Studies, said attitudes stemmed from “perhaps the most lopsided regional economics in the world”, in which, per capita, Mozambicans earn 36 times less than South Africans, and Zimbabweans far less than that. “When the economy turned sour here, it was always going to happen — inevitable, but also predictable, and the government has failed to act to counter it,” said Solomon. Immigration experts — including Forced Migration Studies director Loren Landau — said other factors had combined with economic imbalances to trigger the attacks, including: An 81% food price hike in three years; The reaching of the “tipping point” of more than 25% of residents in informal settlements estimated to be illegal migrants ; “The Mbeki government’s refusal,” according to Solomon, to respond to the scale of the migration with any national policy, as well as the withholding of police statistics on the involvement of foreigners in crime; Widespread corruption at the Department of Home Affairs, which, Mbeki said, had spurred the perception that illegal migrants might be benefiting from RDP houses due to massive ID fraud; an existing xenophobia – one of the most severe in the world - born of an acute nationalist pride over the “Rainbow Nation” and the fear that poorer African nations wish to plunder a rare African success; the sudden down-turn in the global economy – combined, according to Professor Hussein Solomon, with “a lack of understanding among the poorest that the sub prime melt down in the US and wars in the Middle East were largely behind it, leaving foreigners as the logical conclusion for why things have got worse”; The failure of the government to heed isolated xenophobic attacks and regular warnings from the SA Human Rights Commission, Idasa and the National Intelligence Agency; and “A perpetuation of negative stereotypes of migrants in the South African press” — and from public figures — according to a major report by Queens University, Canada, and Samp, which found that 52% of press reports on migration from 2000 to 2003 included negative references to migrants. TELLUS: Why are we more xenophobic than other nations? Write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za “two-thirds would support the deportation of those foreigners not contributing to the South African economy”; South Africans have virtually the same view of legal immigrants from Nigeria, Angola, Congo and Somalia as they have of illegal aliens – all, with a positive view of 10% or less. “16% said it was likely they would round up a group of individuals to force the (foreigner) to leave . . . 9% said they were likely to take (physical action), with 4% saying they were very likely to do so; One in five South Africans believed crime was the primary reason foreigners came into the country; and another 8% said they came to “deal in drugs”. Only 11,8% said they came primarily to “have a better life”; and “Greater than half of all respondents also agreed that refugees should be forced to live in special camps near the border during their stay in South Africa.” South Africans were found to be generally tolerant of immigrants from Lesotho, Botswana and the west. But “positive views” of Zimbabweans, at just 12%, and Mozambicans, 14% and Ghanaians, at 11%, contrasted sharply with the 44% registered for Batswana. Analysts said the good news for South Africans was that high levels of xenophobia, in general, “does not mean we are bad people”. Instead, it stems from the grossly and uniquely lopsided economics of the region, in which, per capita, Mozambicans earn 36 times less than South Africans, and Zimbabweans far less than that. Batswana and Namibians earn close to the average South African wage, and showed levels of xenophobia almost as high. Professor Hussein Solomon, former immigrants project head for the Institute for Security Studies, said the imbalance was greater even than that of some of the world’s most unequal neighbours – such as that between Mexico and the US, or Burma and Thailand. “It’s important to realise that, without intervention from government, this was inevitable,” said Solomon. “In the 1990s, people from poorer neighbouring countries flocked into the Ivory Coast, which had a booming economy and political stability. Locals and immigrants got along fine. Then the price of coffee plummeted and the economy went into a downturn – and suddenly immigrants were being harassed and chased out. So when the economy turned sour here, it was always going to happen – inevitable, but also predictable, and the government has failed to act to counter it.” However, the report showed South African xenophobia to be a unique brand; distinct from that in Botswana. When citizens of SADC countries were asked why they did not want foreigners, more than a third of South Africans cited “harm the economy” as the main reason, compared with one-in-five for almost all other Southern African nations. The questionnaire also included an apparently arbitrary category – “It’s our country – keep out!”, which recorded nominal scores of 3 and 4% for most SADC countries. However, researchers were astonished to find that this was the most important factor for over 15% of South Africans – higher, even, than concerns about foreigners importing crime. Worse, the report suggested that there was the “possibility that many citizens may never view foreign-born migrants as citizens”. That’s because an astonishing 65% of South Africans ignored concepts of asylum and naturalised citizenship to say it was “very important” to be born in the country in order to be considered “a true South African”. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Dreloaded(f): 2:47pm On May 27, 2008 |
Seun, can you ban Mpele? Thanks. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Xiomarra: 3:04pm On May 27, 2008 |
Hmm! darfur: Let us not forget the "Ogoni" people massacre in a hurry too. Right there in Nigeria under the blocked nostrils of Nigerians and their living corpses! |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by dee02(m): 4:07pm On May 27, 2008 |
@MPELE Stop fucking clogging up the message board with loads of irrelevancies you visionless cocksucking reindeer![color=#990000][/color] |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by Kobojunkie: 4:24pm On May 27, 2008 |
I find the report to be very interesting @Mpele. Are there any other links verifying these stats?? I mean other polls one can go to see the same sort of results or something. I do know that many in South Africa do hold a negative idea of foreigners, especially those from other african countries but I did not know it was this much. |
| Re: Boycott South Africa! Boycott Dstv, Mtn Etc! See What They Did To Your Brothers! by romeo(m): 5:01pm On May 27, 2008 |
superboi: See your head!! To call a man Juliet na play? Do i look like a "Maricon"? |
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