South Africa: Let the wall come down

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, said Robert Frost in his Mending Wall. In the poem, the speaker recounts an odd situation: a wall unwilling to stand. He and his neighbour got together every spring to fix derelict parts of the wall. No sooner had they turned their backs than the wall came crumbling down.

In a moment of deep reflection, the speaker begins to question the need for the barricade. He grows apples and his neighbour grows pine trees. His desperate neighbour works his bones out as he puts a rock to solidify the wall which was sure to come down once they turned their backs. Unsure of what to wall up and knowing his neighbour would insist on the wall, he quips satirically: Good fences make good neighbours…stay where you are (wall) until our backs are turned.
Isn’t that a lot like what is happening in South Africa? Nigeria and South Africa have a shared history. Both countries are British colonies, members of Commonwealth of Nations and African Union. When the heat of apartheid melted, Nigeria strongly stood in defence of Black South Africa. Songs like ‘’Fire in Soweto’’ written by Sunny Okosun and several other songs were salvos launched from Nigerian stables against white-rule in South Africa.

At a more concerted level, Nigeria advanced the fronts of liberation movements including the African National Congress. When apartheid rule came to an end, South Africa was in need of man power to establish her economy.

Nigerian professionals immigrated to South Africa. As at 2011, an estimated 24,000 Nigerians were recorded as living in South Africa.
Nigeria too has benefited from South Africa. The Mandela-led ANC helped to resolve the political impasse that followed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections. South Africa was equally involved in quiet diplomacy on stopping the killings of Ken Saro Wiwa and his colleagues, the Ogoni 9. Over the years, there have however been several rifts between the two countries-a situation most onlookers have described as a juggle for supremacy.

In 2012, 125 Nigerians were deported from South Africa over suspicions that their yellow fever certificates were fake. Nigeria responded with a similar measure by refusing South Africans entry to her soil. Arik, Nigeria’s carrier, further suspended flights to South Africa. Unable to withstand the reaction, South Africa apologized and promised new procedures to avoid a repeat of the incident.
But there had been a previous experience. In 2008, the world witnessed a surge of xenophobic violence. Nationals blamed immigrants for occupying available jobs to the exclusion of their nationals. Several Africans were affected. Some were killed and others had their means of livelihood looted and destroyed. In August 2013, and after the 2012 incident, 40 Nigerians were allegedly discriminated, maltreated and then deported at the Tambo International Airport. In 2014, South Africa’s Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority seized $5.7million of an arms deal-the second time such deal was being struck by both countries.

Last week, xenophobic attacks broke out in S.A.’s port city of Durban.
The incident was said to have been triggered by Zulu King Godswill Zwelithini’s statement who said the country was crowded by immigrants who had taken up available jobs and that immigrants should pack their loads and leave. So far, several businesses have been looted and burnt. Six people were reported killed in a country that ironically prides itself as a ‘rainbow’ nation.
How did we get here and more importantly, what can be done? We got here when S.A. failed to realize that no city is grown by its indigenous people. Think London, Dubai, New York…none of those big cosmopolitan cities evolved without immigrants. Immigrants up the competitive ante, import new skills and challenge locals to get on their toes.

To a large extent, the economy of any country is at the mercy of immigrants. We got to this sorry xenophobic state when South Africa failed to realize the sublime fact that immigrants were not stealing jobs but that nationals were not creating jobs or living up to their billing.

Unfortunately, the fate of over 24,000 Nigerians in that country is a thing of grave worry especially now that countries are evacuating their citizens. We need to guarantee the safety of our people even if
that means bringing them back home. Nigeria has over the years failed to create alternatives or competitive services to the goods and services rendered by South Africans. Ordinarily, that should not be a priority, but experience has foisted this on our country.MTN is the network with the highest subscribers in Nigeria. DSTV holds an almost unbreakable monopoly to certain programmes and football club matches.

Shoprite is one of the biggest malls in Nigeria and has its spread in the major cities of our country. There are even more services and business outfits owned by South Africans and hugely patronized by us.

Going by the number of diplomatic engagements that have gone on before now, it’s hard to see how South Africa would learn her lesson by a kid glove approach. Article 60 and 61 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights recognize regional and international human rights instruments and African practices consistent with international norms on human and people’s rights as being important reference points for the application and interpretation of the African Charter.

It is therefore a matter of concern that despite the ratification of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and other international human rights instruments by the majority of the state parties as well as their solemn commitment to eliminate all forms of discrimination and harmful practices against other nationals, immigrants still continue to be victims of xenophobia in South Africa.

The African Economic Community’s mandate is also being threatened by what is happening in the rainbow nation. The goal of the AEC include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market, a central bank and a common currency, the culmination of which should end in the establishing of an Economic and Monetary Union.

Now that S.A is gloating in self glory and expressing a desire to run an independent economy, the country might as well consider defecting from the AU and joining Morocco which is the only African country that has refused to sign up with the African Union. This would of course, cause Haile Selassie and Kwame Nkurumah, the champions of a united Africa, to turn in their graves.

But away from projecting the exit of South Africa from the African Union, it is obvious that something definite needs to be done. First, South Africa has a mandate to strip xenophobia of its light social meaning and to allow it to be treated for what it is-a human rights violation. No one deserves to leave in apprehension of death or harm simply because he bears a different name or has a different identity.

The perpetrators of these heinous acts must be punished. It may also be necessary to carry out economic sanctions by finding other alternatives to South African goods and services until the country gets serious enough to address this matter once and for all. And while we are at it, we must be wary of treating xenophobia with xenophobia.

It will be grossly unfair for Nigerians or other Africans to mete out the same treatment that a few demented S.A. nationals have carried out. We must put an end to this hate by carrying out firm but appropriate measures. As Nelson Mandela once said: “Let us support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair.”