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King Goodwill Zwelithini whose comments have been
attributed to have been the trigger for this latest round of xenophobic attacks
though he has since attempted to claim he was misrepresented. SA newspaper, City
Press is reporting that King Goodwill Zwelithini finally seems to have agreed
to call for an end to xenophobic attacks at an imbizo on Monday. Photo: Khaya
Ngwenya/City Press
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GRAPHITTI NEWS investigations reveal that the Federal
Government of Nigeria is not adequately prepared to be able to intervene
effectively in the possible evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa, should
it become imperative.
Sources deep within the country in South Africa point
to the fact that the Nigerians resident in South Africa are not a monolithic
community but rather disparate fragmented pockets of people with common
passport but diverse interests.
One particular contact alleges that the Nigerian
Embassy cannot with a straight face claim to have accurate figures of the accurate size of all the
various communities of Nigerians resident in South Africa.
Attacks on immigrants, many of them from other African
countries, in and around the coastal city of Durban have subsided after the
deaths of six people there, police said. Some 112 people were arrested in
KwaZulu-Natal province, which includes Durban, during the riots there,
according to authorities.
Some South Africans have accused immigrants of taking
jobs and opportunities away from them in a country with high unemployment. The
government has said it is addressing complaints about undocumented migrants,
while noting that many foreign nationals are living legally in South Africa and
contributing to economic development.
About 60 people died in similar unrest in South Africa
in 2008. In January this year, four people died during a week of looting of
foreign-owned shops and other violence in Soweto and other areas of
Johannesburg.
In the main, our sources indicate that there are
following groups of Nigerians: the first group are the economic migrants; the
second are professionals who hold down jobs in South Africa or work for
organizations which have transferred them on posting to South Africa; the third
group are people with business interests in South Africa and the last group are
students studying in various institutions across the country.
However these sources tell GRAPHITTI NEWS there are
other groups on Nigerians who are in South Africa illegally and engaged in
shady activities. Many are single and are in South Africa to “hustle” as they
claim. Others are married to South African ladies and do not mix with other
Nigerians. They are a source of concern for those with legitimate and legal
reasons to be in the country.
The most shocking revelation is that there are
undocumented Nigerians young men whose lifestyle and illegal activities make
the South African youth see the Nigerian as enemy and they usually attack them.
Another source told GRAPHITTI NEWS there are people
who the government of Nigeria must prevent from traveling abroad to commit
crime.
The Nigerian Embassy may not be able to account for
all of these groups adequately as some of them do not trust the embassy to
cater to their consular needs. A lot of people from past experiences which have
put them off seeking assistance from the Embassy.
GRAPHITTI NEWS gathered from these sources that
whereas people are claiming not Nigerian has been killed and these cannot be
ascertained just by looking at dead bodies. They inform us that there are no
tests being carried out to find out which nationalities have been killed.
Our investigations continue.
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A crowd of anti-immigrant protesters demonstrate
outside the Jeppe hostel in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, April 17, 2015,
where some foreigners have sought refuge. Several shops and cars owned by
foreigners were torched in downtown Johannesburg overnight in continued anti-immigrant
attacks. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Meanwhile South African media have reported that more police
officers are being deployed to informal settlements and hostels across Gauteng
as well as in Johannesburg’s CBD in the evenings, when most of the xenophobic
violence occurs, police said on Saturday.
“The attacks happen in the dark, late in the night, so
we will increase deployment during those times. During the day it is calm,”
Gauteng police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said.
More than 30 had been arrested in Thokoza informal settlement
in the East Rand and Cleveland, east of Johannesburg, for public violence,
malicious damage to property, house breaking and theft.
“Police are still maintaining a strong presence on the
ground,” he said.
Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar
said residents of Alexandra informal settlement, north of Johannesburg, began
protesting singing and chanting against foreigners in the area around 21:00 on
Friday and Saturday. Eighth Road was barricaded with burning tyres, he said.
Two foreign owned shops were broken into and looted.
There was an attempt to loot a third shop in the area, he said.
“The foreigners had to be taken to Alexandra police
station for safety.” They had since left.
“One man was arrested inside a liquor store owned by a
South African at the corner of Watt Street and Second Avenue, this was pure
criminal activity, not related to the other xenophobic attacks,” Minnaar said.
Calm had restored around midnight. Police were still
monitoring the area.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Jay Naicker said
there had been no reports of violence related to xenophobia in the past three
days.
Protesters in Phoenix, Durban had barricaded the
highway in the early hours of Saturday, it was not linked to Xenophobia,
Naicker said.
Six people have died this week and thousands have been
displaced as hostility between some locals and foreigners escalated in Durban
and parts of Johannesburg.
In turn, Sunday Punch reports some Nigerians
in South Africa have cried out against the xenophobic attacks on Africans in
parts of the country.
In separate telephone interviews with Sunday Punch,
the Nigerian migrants expressed their fear of attacks as death threats were
being circulated on social media.
Itunu Bodunrin, who on Monday had attended his
master’s degree graduation ceremony at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban,
told our correspondent that he was unable to leave the school campus afterwards
due to the violence in the town.
Bodunrin forwarded a text message to our correspondent
which, according to him, had been circulated among South African residents via
an instant messaging mobile application, WhatsApp.
In the message, signed by several groups, including
the Patriotic Movement, Pan Local Forum, Unemployed Workers Forum and
Anti-Crime Movement, Nigerians and other African foreigners were warned to
leave the country.
It read in part, “Dear neighbour from Africa and other
parts of the world, we have travelled the world and have not found one country
that allows the floods of humans across its borders as South Africa is
experiencing. Even in war-torn parts like Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and Somali.
“We were seven million people in Johannesburg city in
2011. Today, we have an estimated 13 million. In Johannesburg alone, you have
taken over entire suburbs: Yeoville, Berea, Bez Valley, Turfontein, among many.
You have even moved into rural parts of our country that have 80-per-cent
unemployment, and there are no visible signs that you have jobs either.
“We want to be proudly part of the geographic
construct called Africa, but we are as different from one another as Kenyans
are from Nigerians; Ivorians from Chadians, etc.
“We are pleading with you to return to your home
countries. Go and build up those countries so that we can all live in economic,
social and political prosperity and peace as neighbours. The genocide in this
corner of Africa will be far worse than what happened in Rwanda in 1994. Then
the entire continent will be condemned to ashes. Is that what you want?
“South Africans not fully employed or who were found
guilty of crimes, were recently repatriated from Nigeria and rightly so.
“Our people are preparing for war against all
foreigners (from Bulgaria, Pakistan and Bangladesh to Africa, north of the
Limpopo) and we are all very scared. Please go home and build Africa. Millions
will die if you don’t. This we can guarantee.”
Similarly, Samson Ojako, a master’s degree student
studying Mathematics also at the University of KwaZulu-Natal noted that looting
had been rampant for over a week.
“Those that opened their shops were attacked by the
Zulu. During all of this, those of us on campus were warned by the school
management to stay indoors. They said no one should leave the school premises,
especially during the weekend.”
Ojako noted that a large number of Zulus often
migrated from their villages into town on weekends in order to launch attacks
on non-nationals.
He likened the last one week to life in a refugee
camp, saying that those living on campus could not go out to shop for food.
“A lot of people are living in fear, especially the
ladies. Even for us who are guys, last week, we had to move in groups,” he
said.
Olawale Olawepo, another
Nigerian studying for a doctorate degree in Industrial Organization and Labour
Studies said the school authorities also warned students against taking public
transportation.
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