Overindulging South Africans’ bad behaviour!

There appears to be more odious stories coming out of Nelson Mandela’s country. I am sure if the Madiba were to get to know that his countrymen and women, especially the so-called BLACK majority types, are deliberately, consciously, wilfully targeting Nigerians for unpleasant experiences in that country, the old man would be very surprised; and then, would develop a new kind of sadness! For a chief indulgee like me, who has a notoriety for developing a naïve belief that misbehaviour towards any person or group of persons might not always be deliberate (often a mistake), I have come to a new thinking to include South Africa and South Africans among those to be given tit-for-tat treatment should I ever find myself in a position to eyeball that country at official, diplomatic level.

The reason why I am including South Africa and South Africans in that list is that I have personally been a victim of the deliberate, wicked effort of South Africans to humiliate Nigerians. You would recall that I have reported at this indulgee gathering how, in the old visa system operated by the High Commission in Lagos, black South African officials, who were probably having a good time in our country when they were not at work, took pleasure in treating Nigerians  who went to procure visa like animals. In 2008, the first and last time I allowed myself to be so treated (that was when I had the naïve belief that it wasn’t deliberate), I found it unbelievable that Nigerians were meant to undergo such treatment in the hands of their fellow black Africans. Looking back a couple of years later, it was clear to me that this black folks from SA, finding themselves now in position to ‘deal’ with people, after years of suffering under apartheid, were exacting their pound of flesh on Africa’s most populous country; the world’s highest concentration of black people.

And here’s the story. It appears that when Black South Africans look at Nigeria, they see the size; they look at the population, they see the huge number and the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’; and when they find themselves in a position of authority, like authority to issue visa, authority to allow you into their country as immigration officials, they remember how the minority white population treated them, the majority (just because they had power). So, what do they do? They get pumped up, their adrenaline wakes up and they think, “Let’s deal with this majority black people.”

At the University of Nigeria in the 1990s, I had the opportunity to be up close to two South Africans. One, Matthew Ncube, was my classmate, and he was such a jolly good fellow, whom we used to call Mandela. The other one was a PhD Political Science student, who was called Kumalo or something close to that. We used to talk about South Africa and how bad apartheid was and joined other students who always had a view about that evil system. At the time, none of us knew things were going to be different years down the road. In writing this piece, I had to call two former classmates trying to confirm the names of the two South Africans at University of Nigeria. Surprisingly, one of them narrated his story when he visited South Africa. “Those people are bad to Nigerians,” he said to me. He told me how they always look at you with disdain once they find out you are a Nigerian. He said he was shocked at the treatment.

It might just be that this is coming to light much more now. But the truth is that this bad behaviour by South Africa and South Africans is not new. In 1999 I went to Manchester University to do a postgraduate programme. People had come from all over the world to study, including some black South Africans. It soon became obvious that they looked at those of us from Nigeria differently. We were in the UK, I was still very naïve, so it did not resonate with me. It was only much later, when we had the opportunity to be in group discussions, and they had ‘seen’ through their own stupid behaviour, that they began to open up.

Do you know what their ‘stupid’ officials told them when they were leaving their country for the UK? “Be careful with Nigerians.” That’s what our classmates at Manchester University said they were told by their bloated, egomaniac, silly, black South African government officials. That was as far back as 1999. The xenophobia was real even way back then. And it was and still is an official policy!

This bad behaviour continues to happen, no matter what their very senior officials say in public. It’s all lip service. These people don’t mean well for Nigerians and Nigeria. This country called South Africa, although now ruled by blacks but having its economic power in the hands of whites, appears to me to be one which would do all that it can to benefit from others and then turn to spit on them! The story we took yesterday about the treatment given to a senior executive of South Africa’s biggest business in Nigeria, MTN, is the latest of South Africans and South Africa behaving badly towards Nigeria and Nigerians. It is beyond belief that the reason for deporting a senior official of MTN who had a legitimate entry visa to that country, and who had gone for a company meeting, would be that there were no two full empty pages on her passport for an arrival/entry stamp to be put on her passport. It was the reason to throw her into detention, seize her phones, deny her access to call anybody, deny her access to water or food and then put her on the next available flight back to Lagos. This was a woman who had travelled with her fellow senior colleagues and had been so humiliated in front of everybody! Jeez! South Africa!

In the midst of all this, I think deeply about the future. One day this country called Nigeria will be governed by truly proud Nigerians. Mark my words today. The current crop of people who rule this country are people who are selfish, and operate from the shallowest perspectives in terms of what it truly takes to have REAL patriots in charge of the affairs of state. They are the reason why things like this continue to happen to Nigerians. They are selfish and they allow this selfishness and their shallow minds to distort their visions about what is right to do to protect their own citizens. But I believe this will not go on forever. One day, REAL patriots will come on the scene. They will know what to do. Right now, I know what to do to protect my people. For instance, I will not take any nonsense from any country or its citizens that treat my country and my citizens with disdain. I will make sure a country like South Africa, which has an anti-Nigeria investment attitude in South Africa, does not have its business people come here and make money off our country while their visa and immigration officials and ordinary citizens treat us with contempt. I will not allow it! At all!

By: PHILLIP ISAKPA