Steve Edward’s voice shook terribly, laden with anger and
frustration as he relived how he escaped being killed by a South African mob
last Saturday in Pretoria West.
“The men came in with machetes and other weapons and started
making some arrogant noises. They first collected our money and goods. After
then, they set our house on fire. They were happy,” he said. “We called on the
police and some people to help us. But when they arrived, they joined our
attackers in assaulting us.”
Edward, an indigene of Ondo State (Nigeria), had only lived
in South Africa for three years when he witnessed the horrible incident.
He said, “The people we called on to help us also joined our
attackers in looting us. They told us that we were dating their women and
taking their jobs.
“They also accused us of selling drugs. But I’ve never sold
drugs in my life. I’m a forklift operator at an automobile company here in the
city. I’ve been working here since 2014 when I arrived in this country.”
Anti-immigrant violence reared its head again in recent
weeks in Pretoria West when properties belonging to Nigerians and other
Africans were torched by some South Africans who claimed that foreigners were
taking over their jobs and dating their women.
The attacks in Pretoria West came just some days after
residents in Rosetenville, a suburb in Johannesburg, reportedly burnt
properties belonging to Nigerians and other foreigners for allegedly being used
for drug dealing and human trafficking. Cars, houses and other items were
destroyed in the attacks.
Since last Saturday’s attacks, Edward told our correspondent
on the telephone that he had since been living in the street.
He said, “I’m now living in the street since they burnt down
the house I lived in. We can’t sleep with our eyes closed because they can
attack anytime. We can’t even go to any church to sleep in because they can
come there. Nowhere is safe for us.
“My company has also sacked me. I think those guys went to
the company and warned them to sack all Nigerians and other foreigners. They
don’t want to see any Nigerian work in their country.
“Meanwhile, they are lazy and that’s the truth. That’s why
their women follow Nigerians. They’re just jealous of our success. They don’t
work, yet they don’t want us who are working to do so. What kind of life is
this? They have taken everything I owned. I have lost all.”
Edward explained that he started having a premonition that
the attacks would take place someday as “South African men hate us.”
He added, “They have always sought to attack us. Another
incident that frequently happens is this: When we go to the bank to withdraw
money, the tellers secretly take our pictures and send them to the police. I
don’t know what they tell their police.
“But what I know that has happened to many Nigerians is that
by the time we are leaving the bank, the police would have been waiting for us.
They would collect our money, injure us, then drop us in an unknown location.
They would tell us, ‘Go back to your country, we don’t want you here.’”
Having experienced the latest attacks, Edward told Saturday
PUNCH that he would love to return to Nigeria to start a new life.
“I want to come back home and start a new life or what is
the essence of all the three years I’ve worked here?” he asked.
Another Nigerian who lost all his properties to the recent
attacks is Mr. Jaiyeola Balogun, the co-owner of Simon Auto Mechanic Workshop
located on 442 Christoffel Street, Pretoria West.
When the hoodlums came to his workshop — containing 29 cars,
equipment and other belongings — around 4am on Sunday, February 5, 2017, to
burn it down, he would later realise he had lost over R7 million (N168m).
“I have lost all,” he said bitterly.
Balogun had owned the workshop since 2009 in South Africa,
but in the twinkle of an eye, all his investments were gone.
He said, “I lost 29 cars in the attacks. They burnt
everything down. My passport and that of my daughter were also in the workshop.
I lost over R7 million (N168m). I’m down now as I’m talking to you. It’s like
the world has collapsed on me.
“They stole my goods and burnt down my house. My family is
in Nigeria, but my last daughter is schooling here in South Africa. They don’t
like us Nigerians. Xenophobic attacks had never taken place here in Pretoria
West, but they occurred this time around.
“I’ve been doing this job since 2009. I’d love to return to
Nigeria. I’d like to come back home. I mean, all the things I’ve worked for
over the years have all gone. But if I want to come back to Nigeria, I would
need a passport, which has been burnt. Why do I need to keep staying in a
hostile country?
“They cook up all manner of stories to paint Nigerians
black. They tell these stories to justify their evil acts. For instance, when
they say Nigerians sell drugs in their country, are they saying the police
don’t know where they sell the drugs? They know.
“Let them go and arrest those who sell drugs, but they
shouldn’t be attacking those of us who are doing legitimate businesses. I do
handwork and I’ve never dealt in drugs all my life. It is saddening I have lost
all my investments.”
Uchechi Okon was about embarking on a six-hour journey from
Pretoria West when our correspondent called him.
“Right now, I’m relocating out of here to another place
which is six hours drive from here. I quickly came to the market to buy some
things. I have lost many things as they burnt the house I was living, so I need
to buy some essentials before embarking on the trip,” he said.
Okon, who once owned a boutique on Rosazitta Street,
Pretoria West, said the attacks lasted for about eight hours.
He said, “It all happened quickly. The mob came, saying they
were looking for Nigerians selling drugs. I was sleeping. The next thing I
would hear was loud banging on the gate.
“They eventually forced the gate open. We ran to the back of
the premises to hide. By then, they had broken the door down and came into the
compound. They said they were looking for the Nigerians that lived there, but
my white landlady was shouting back that there was no Nigerian living there.
“They came with all kinds of weapons — knives, rods and so
on. I heard later that they shot people in similar attacks, but I couldn’t see
if they had guns. I was peeping through the window. It happened between 8.30am
and 4pm. They went from house to house.
“When they didn’t see us, they stole all our properties and
burnt my apartment with my clothes. Right now, I don’t have a passport. I don’t
know whether they stole it or it got burnt down with the rest of my clothes and
other belongings. I am now living in my car. The only clothes I have are the
ones on my back.”
Mrs. Annemarie Van Zir, 68, the owner of the building where
Okon and other Africans lived in, said it was unfortunate that Africans were
being attacked by fellow Africans.
“They robbed us of our money and other belongings before
burning down the building,” she said, adding, “I think the attacks are
xenophobic. Even though I was born and bred in South Africa, that doesn’t mean
I shouldn’t say the truth. It’s quite unfortunate what’s happening here.”
Being a South African, one would think Van Zir’s building
would not have been torched by the mob.
But she said, “They burnt my house probably because there
were Nigerians and other Africans living in it. They just don’t want to see
Nigerians. The hoodlums usually narrate the ‘they took our jobs and women’
story anytime they attack Nigerians.
“They said Nigerians had turned their women to prostitutes,
but that’s not the issue. The government here is not doing enough to empower
women and some of them are also being chased out of the home by their parents.
“Guess where they go? Of course, they would go to Nigerians
and others who take care of them well. During the recent attacks, the police
came, but did nothing. They also enrich themselves with other people’s wealth.
“The police watched as they set my house on fire in broad
daylight and now everything is down. Well, I’m still waiting for the
government’s response in terms of compensation, but I hope I don’t wait in
vain.”
Last Saturday’s attacks have also forced Musibau Alade to
leave Pretoria West and now living in his uncle’s house. But still, he has not
been able to sleep with his two eyes closed.
“When they came last Saturday to attack us, they burnt down
the house I was living. Now, we learnt that they had planned other attacks this
week. Right now, I’ve gone to my uncle’s house, but for some other Nigerians
that I know, they are sleeping in the streets. It’s unfortunate what’s
happening to us,” he said.
South Africa’s unending ‘Afrophobic’ attacks
Though no life was lost in the recent attacks, Nigerians and
other Africans have always been attacked by South Africans in the country, with
some people already tagging the attacks as ‘Afrophobic.’
In May 2008, 62 people were killed in a wave of xenophobic
attacks across townships.
Foreign nationals, mostly migrants from Somalia and
Ethiopia, were dragged through the
streets of Alexandra, barely a few kilometres from Johannesburg’s plush Sandton
suburb, and “necklaced” — a throwback to the summary execution tactic used in
the Apartheid days.
A rubber tyre, filled with petrol, is forced around a victim’s
chest and arms, and set alight.
In an instant, the story of South Africa’s much-touted
rainbow nation of black, white and brown people happily living together,
fizzled away in an outburst of vengeance.
Tens of thousands of people were displaced, forced to seek
refuge in churches, mosques and even police stations. In the end, it took
military intervention to quell the violence.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, there were almost 310,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the country
as of July 2014. By the end of 2015, this number topped 330,000.
South Africa, with a population of about 50 million, is home
to an estimated five million immigrants.
Out of the five million immigrants, there are about 800,000
Nigerians in South Africa, many of them living in Johannesburg, according to
the Nigerian Union South Africa.
In April 2015, the country was badly hit by the wave of
xenophobic violence, which resulted to the death of about seven Nigerians, as
stated by the South African police. Many others lost their properties.
‘It’s time to stop the attacks’
On December 29, 2016, a Nigerian, Tochukwu Nnadi, was killed
by South African police officers for allegedly dealing in hard drugs, which
brought to 20 the number of Nigerians killed in 2016 alone in South Africa.
According to the Senior Special Assistant to President
Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, South
African cops gripped Nnadi’s neck despite his hands being already handcuffed at
the back and squeezed it tightly until he died.
Described as a xenophobic attack in many quarters,
Dabiri-Erewa also complained that over 116 Nigerians had been killed within two
years in South Africa, though 63 per cent of the extra-judicial killings were
carried out by the police.
She, therefore, called on the South African government to
take decisive and definitive measures to protect Nigerians and other Africans
living in the country.
“We have lost about 116 Nigerians in the last two years and
in 2016 alone, about 20 were killed. This is unacceptable to the people and
government of Nigeria,” she said.
An Abuja-based political scientist and social commentator,
Dr. (Mrs.) Bisola Oduoye, also asked the Federal Government to act promptly on
the recent attacks by South Africans on Nigerians.
Saying that the steps the Federal Government takes would
determine how important the South African government would bring to justice the
attackers, Oduoye said it was high time the government took some “intense”
diplomatic actions.
She said, “They have always attacked Nigerians. In 2015, the
same thing happened. Now that it’s happening again, it means the Federal
Government and South Africa have not really sat down to talk on the issue.
“Our government now needs to tell its South African
counterpart to stop the attacks. They allege that Nigerians carry drugs, but in
a sane society, is it not the police’s job to fish out criminals? Why should
the citizens be brutalising foreigners, particularly their fellow Africans?
It’s not right.”
Also, the House of Representatives has passed a resolution
condemning the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa.
The House also urged the President Buhari administration to
recall the country’s ambassador to South Africa due to the xenophobic rally
which held on Friday in South Africa.
The resolution followed a motion by Rita Orji, a Peoples
Democratic Party lawmaker from Lagos State, who decried how Nigerians are being
unjustly targeted in South Africa.
Another lawmaker, Sergius Ogun, PDP-Edo State, said the poor
treatment being meted to Nigerians was deeply troubling, given the role Nigeria
played in ending the South African Apartheid regime.
He said, “I want us as a House to condemn it and I also want
our government to take a stand on it.
“How can we say that we are the giant of Africa when in
other African countries, our citizens are being killed?”
While supporting her colleagues, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje,
PDP-Abia State, said Nigeria should take extra-diplomatic measures in dealing
with the latest deadly assaults because “the attacks on Nigerians in SA have
persisted” despite all diplomatic solutions explored by the government.
The House Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, said it was time for
all stakeholders to “call a spade a spade” as “this isn’t the first time this
is happening.”
He added, “South Africans continue to kill Nigerians for no
justifiable reason and this is completely unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of NUSA, Mr. Adetola
Olubajo, told Saturday PUNCH that the association would send a petition to the
South African government based on the recent attacks.
He said, “The Nigeria`s Consul General in South Africa,
Ambassador (Mrs.) Uche Ajulu-Okeke, was here today (Wednesday) and we have
started compiling the costs of the properties damaged.
“A police case will be opened and valuation done before
sending a petition to the government through our mission here in South Africa.
The Consul General went to the police station and visited the burnt buildings.”
On Nigerians who want to return to the country, Olubajo said
it was unfortunate that most of the victims’ passports had been burnt.
However, he said the Consul General had written to the
Immigration Service in the country for issuance of new passports, he said.
In a similar vein, Dabiri-Erewa has encouraged Nigerians who
want to return home to do so, saying “This is our country. No matter the
challenges, home is always best.”
Nonetheless, she said the South African police had assured
Nigerians living in the country of protection henceforth.
She told Saturday PUNCH that this was after the Federal
Government issued a “strong” statement warning that further attacks on
Nigerians would attract “dire consequences.”
She said, “This is the first incident happening under this
administration and we will follow through.
“Investigations are on to determine who and what should be
compensated. I will pursue my call for the African Union’s intervention whether
the attacks continue or not.”
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