My contemporaries in school will certainly be familiar with the topic. However, I am not typing about secondary school issues now.
Rather, I’m welcoming you to South Africa, where some have decided to be a law unto themselves!
I have a few friends in South Africa, and I know most of them would not support what’s going on there.
We first thought it was xenophobia. Then, we discovered it would be simplistic to describe it in that fashion.
Why?
Only Africans are being targeted.
It was only later that the word “all” was added as a face-saving measure.
I don’t really have any problem with the deportation of so-called illegal migrants, provided it comes from the appropriate quarters.
That’s not the case in South Africa!
It’s the rule of the mob. They are immigration officers, police officers, judges, looters, and even executioners.
Yes, executioners, because some have died in the hands of the mob.
It is not a strange thing that people, for one reason or another, will become illegal immigrants.
The civilized thing to do in such a case is for people to allow immigration and, in some cases, for police to arrest them. They should have been allowed to have their day in a competent court.
But in South Africa, every member of the mob is saddled with the responsibility of summarily deporting so-called foreigners.
From my encounter with some of them, they believe that they have the power of citizens’ arrest. That is the power to apprehend suspected offenders by an ordinary person rather than an officer of the law.
However, how would they know if someone had actually committed an offence?
In some cases, people have their documents with the authorities, and it’s taking forever due to bureaucracy; should they be persecuted?
The job situation is a global affair, and so is the drug problem. In both cases, I would rather that every offender be treated individually.
But the opposite is the case. They would rather stereotype Nigerians, as if South Africans are angels.
They claim Nigerians disrespect them. I wouldn’t think that is true. If it is, South Africa has legislation specifically addressing these offences under the Prevention and Combating Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Act 16 of 2023.
In any case, respect is reciprocal!
There’s a saying that we won’t tell a child not to be afflicted with leprosy if he could live in a dense forest.
South Africa is so developed that it doesn’t need any African neighbour, so be it.
I’m not necessarily defending Nigerians. They claim some Nigerians installed traditional rulers in South Africa. The laws of the land could have dealt with that.
Meanwhile, I’m not surprised at the sloppy attitude of the Nigerian authorities in evacuating Nigerians in South Africa.
By the way, when South Africa was under Apartheid regime, the rest of Africa assisted the country.
While African countries are not asking South Africa to return the favour, they are asking the authorities in that country to respect the rule of law, human dignity and whatever remains of their Africanness.
