I love South Africa… But, I think it’s the old one I love. The new one is Africa’s nightmare. Africans who once thought of South Africa as a brother country are discovering a South Africa that wants nothing to do with the rest of Africa. The land of Mandela and Biko has become the most unwelcoming country for Africans in the world.
I love South Africa.
Growing up, you really had no other option.
It’s the land of Steve Biko, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Thambo and Nelson Mandela. It was the African country where native Africans were relegated to third class citizens in their own land.
It was the country that made African countries come together as one and resolve that their freedom was not complete until apartheid was booted into the sea. It was a time when Africa found its voice and muscle.
During morning assembly in primary school, you sometimes sing freedom songs for South Africa. In church, you prayed for Mandela and the other freedom fighters. On the radio, Sunny Okosuns and other musicians wailed about apartheid all day. And, at home, your parents tell of the pride they took in paying the Frontline States tax.
Frontline States’ tax? Now, that’s a novelty! In strict economic sense, it’s the ultimate sacrifice a brother can make for another brother. It’s a sister sacrificing a precious slice of her income so the life of another sister in a far away land can be better. And, this is apart from the millions of dollars the Nigerian government was spending on the anti-apartheid struggle.
I wonder if the average South African knows this. I wonder if they teach it in their schools. I wonder because, in this season of madness on the streets of South Africa, some education may just inject sense into that population.
I still remember seeing South Africans on the University of Lagos campus. You could tell who they were because the Nigerian government put them up in the best accommodation, made sure they got their allowances, while the Nigerian students were protesting the hike in their tuition fees. Nigeria made sure those South Africans who had been denied their homeland felt at home in Nigeria.
It’s not a stretch for Africans, especially Nigerians, to think of South Africans as the most ungrateful people on God’s earth. Without Nigeria, and the countries that constituted the frontline states, South Africa would not have gotten their Independence when they did.
I love South Africa.
But, I think it’s the old one I love. The new one is Africa’s nightmare. Africans who once thought of South Africa as a brother country are discovering a South Africa that wants nothing to do with the rest of Africa. The land of Mandela and Biko has become the most unwelcoming country for Africans in the world.
They call it xenophobia but they might as well call it Africophobia. South Africans have a phobia for Africans. They see hardworking Africans who are actually contributing to their economy as a threat. In today’s South Africa, murder and assassination is the new definition of deportation.
They call it xenophobia but they’re wrong. South Africans attack only Nigerians and Africans making a honest living in their country. They do not attack non-African foreigners who work in South Africa and run foreign-owned businesses. It’s like if you’re not African they roll out the red carpet. But, if you’re African, better sleep with both eyes open and your running shoes on.
It’s not a stretch for Africans, especially Nigerians, to think of South Africans as the most ungrateful people on God’s earth. Without Nigeria, and the countries that constituted the frontline states, South Africa would not have gotten their Independence when they did.
Just think about it? If Murtala Muhammed had not made that famous speech at the OAU summit in 1975, the western world would have strengthened the powers behind apartheid. If Olusegun Obasanjo had not put a chunk of Nigeria’s petro-dollars behind the anti-apartheid struggle, the apartheid regime would have continued business as usual. If Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida had not continued as leaders of the frontline states, South Africa as we know it today would not have been.
And how does the average South African repay Nigeria today? By attacking and killing Nigerians on the streets of South Africa. How does the government of South Africa react? By making cosmetic condemnation of the attacks and not ensuring the adequate safety of Nigerians and other foreigners.
I watched Abike Dabiri struggle to hammer her points home on BBC’s “Focus on Africa” last week and I wept for Nigeria. Here was the president’s special adviser calling on the African Union (AU) to intervene. The African Union! Does she even know what the AU does? Why not just take a bat and swing for the fences? Why not call in the United Nations?
A day without South Africa is really simple. Since the South African government cannot guarantee the lives of Nigerians and their businesses, Nigeria should ask them to return home or find other friendlier nations to do business with and in.
This is a very simple matter. South Africa doesn’t want anything to do with Nigeria or Nigerians, and indeed Africa and Africans for that matter. You can’t begrudge a nation or her citizens their rights and wishes. The Nigerian government should answer their prayers.
Let’s have a day without South Africa in Nigeria.
Let the day grow into days, weeks, months and years. Let it go on until sense, grace and gratitude return to South Africa.
A day without South Africa is really simple. Since the South African government cannot guarantee the lives of Nigerians and their businesses, Nigeria should ask them to return home or find other friendlier nations to do business with and in.
Then, Nigeria should ask South Africans and South African businesses in Nigeria to go back to their countries. They should tell the Nigerians on boards of South African-owned businesses to stop the cunny business with share holding and build truly Nigerian companies to replace the departed South African firms.
Nigeria and Nigerians should think Nigeria first.
And we can all wait and see who blinks first.
Follow me on Twitter: @iam_ose
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