Protest in Abuja over South African xenophobic attacks

•Labour plans nationwide protests •MTN, others fear reprisals •Nigerians condemn attacks

Advocate for Peoples’ Rights and Justice, a human rights group, on Monday marched through the streets of Abuja and at the front of the South African embassy, denouncing xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

It described the attacks as “inhuman treatment of other Africans and foreign nationals by South Africans.”

Victor Giwa, national coordinator of the group, who addressed protesters both outside the South African embassy and at various South African owned businesses in Abuja, said that the killing of people and destruction of their properties just because they were not South Africans was against Article 12 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights.

According to him, such acts were against the Ujama Accord and the spirit of the founding fathers of pan-Africanism.

“We are going to march to all the South African owned businesses in Abuja to register our protest and displeasure with what is happening in South Africa. We will go to MTN, we will go to Stanbic-IBTC, we will go to Multichoice and DSTV, as well as Shoprite. South Africans are here and their businesses are well protected without any form of discrimination and they must also protect Nigerians in their country,” Giwa reiterated.

He also said that, according to information obtained by him from the Nigerian mission in South Africa, N21 million has so far been lost to those attacks on Nigerians and their businesses, while about 8 people have been hospitalised in different medical facilities across the affected areas in that country.

While the protest lingered at the South African embassy, security operatives pleaded with the protest leaders to leave, but at Multichoice office, Ismail Olalekan, deputy head of sales, came out to address the protesters and to register his company’s condemnation of the South African hostilities against other nationals.

The organised labour is going beyond verbal condemnation of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, saying it has perfected plans to begin protests across Nigeria to further draw the attention of the world to the barbaric act.

BusinessDay gathered that the protests will start today in Abuja from where it will move to Lagos, the nation’s economic hub, where major South African businesses including MTN, DSTV, Shoprite, among others, have strong presence. The protests will then be staggered across state capitals after the May 1 Workers’ Day.

Bobboi Kaigama, president of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), told BusinessDay in a telephone conversation that the leadership of the union has ordered full mobilisation for the rally. “We have directed our Abuja chapter to mobilise for the rally. We are taking the protests to the South African embassy in Abuja,” said Kaigama.

Joe Ajaero, president of the now factionalised Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), also spoke in similar terms, saying that it was time to stand up against continued ill-treatment of Nigerians and other African nationals in South Africa.

Meanwhile, the clamour for reprisal attacks is putting pressure on South African businesses across the continent, said a senior executive of MTN, in an interview on Monday.

Wale Goodluck, corporate services executive at MTN Nigeria, said that such calls are unjustifiable and not in the overall best interest of the Nigerian economy.

“We condemn what’s happening in South Africa in the most unequivocal terms. It is unacceptable. We are concerned about the lives of foreigners, Nigerians in SA. We are confident that the SA government will address the matter”, said Goodluck.

Reacting on the xenophobic attacks, Adedayo Ojo, the CEO of Caritas Communication, linked it to the absence of adequate education and socio-cultural awareness among some South Africans.

“In the absence of this, people would do what ordinarily they wouldn’t have done. The absence of literature on the history of South Africa could be a contributory factor, because if there was enough literature and cultural sharing between and among Africans, and adequate awareness about our inter-dependence and awareness on the negative impact of xenophobia on everyone, whether South African or not, they would not do it”.

In his contribution, Dayo Elegbe, a communication expert who feels ashamed by the racial intolerance by some South Africans specifically linked it to poverty. He regretted that xenophobia is worst than apartheid that ended about 20 years ago.