XENOPHOBIA

XENOPHOBIA: South Africa Forgets So Soon

We cannot bring ourselves to believe it possible that a foreigner should in any respect be wiser than ourselves.

Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882)

Xenophobia is not a new occurrence in the world; it cannot be since it already existed long before the South African xenophobic crisis. Nations like Germany have constantly exhibited both traits and acts of xenophobia. World War II is a classic example of that. The hateful act of treating Jews like dirt is not only racist but xenophobic. It may be surprising to note that even the nation flowing with milk and honey; our beloved Nigeria, exhibited South African behavioural traits of, although not fully blown, with all the Ghanaians sent packing during the Ghana must go era.

However, for thousands of Africans, if not millions, the word xenophobia started to exist when some unruly South Africans decided to take hatred a step further by killing other Africans, destroying their properties and leaving thousands running around like headless chickens in fear of losing their lives. One then wonders if, peradventure, these Africans who live in the southern most part of the black continent have forgotten their origin.

Is it not a fact that one should not bite the hands that fed them? When they were being brutally murdered and subjected to gross debasement by cruel ‘pink’ hands, who considered them as brothers and offered them assistance? Who spent large sums of money trying and succeeding to free them from their slave drivers? How they have the effrontery to even lay a hand on those whom they should be eternally grateful to is both baffling and disturbing. Was so much time and money spent fighting for children who do not recognize their mother? Is this what Nelson Mandela fought for?

They accuse Nigerians of defrauding them and taking their jobs, leaving them unemployed and hungry. Who does not know that unemployment is a major problem of the African continent? Who does not know that people who know their onions cannot be idle for long, come what may? Could it be that these ‘brothers’ of ours are not as intellectual as Mandela and the rest of Africa had thought? Definitely, intellectuals would not deal to others the same cruel hand they were dealt.

Nevertheless, it could be said that Nigeria actually had it coming. In gratitude to Nigeria, South Africa allowed Nigerian professionals to come and work in their country from as far back as 1994. While it is not being that South Africa has any justification for their brutal acts, the fact is that Nigerians are guilty of many of the acts they are accused of. Defrauding and drug trafficking are things that Nigerians are known for even here in the country. But then, this is no justification for South Africa’s exhibition of cowardice by blaming other Africans for their economic woes and failures. Able bodied men should find something lucrative to do instead of expending their energy to chase, maim and kill innocent people.

South Africans have no justification for their inhumane acts. Brothers do not kill brothers, rather they stand with each other to the end. They help each other up when in trouble. Nigeria and other African countries do not deserve to be sacrificed on the altar of some people’s ignorance and cluelessness. The only Giant of Africa refuses to be treated unfairly by South Africa.

-NUT