Killing of Nigerians and other blacks in South Africa is not xenophobia

Before we examine the meaning of the word ‘xenophobia,’ let me state that the attack on Nigerians and other blacks by South Africans in that country is motivated by greed and petty jealousy against their fellow blacks, who, due to hard work and dogged determination, are doing better than them, in their own country.

Another reason for the attacks is because South Africans know they can vent their anger on citizens of Nigeria and other African countries whose governments are weak, without any serious consequence; they cannot attack Americans, Germans, Chinese and nationals of countries with serious governments.

It is also for that reason that the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, his Police Chief and other top officials of the government have made statements that indicate their open or surreptitious support for the attacks. They know that nothing serious can come against them by governments of Nigeria and those other weak African countries.

The people of South Africa, their President, Cyril Ramaphosa and his officials know that if one American is killed in any of the attacks, President Donald Trump will not send emissaries to South Africa, it is the South African President himself that would fly to the United States to explain what happened, tender apologies and commit that no such thing would be repeated. How then can they attack Americans or citizens of any serious country?

What is xenophobia?
The term xenophobia was derived from two Greek words, ‘xenos, translated as either “stranger” or “guest;” and phobos, which means “fear.”
According to the Merriam Webster, xenophobia means fear of something strange, guest or foreign. Therefore we can also say that xenophobia could mean fear of an object, animal or situation, among many others. In the case of humans, it means fear of stranger or foreigner.

There are many ‘strangers’ and ‘foreigners’ in South Africa including Chinese, Indians, Lebanese, Americans, Germans/other Europeans and others of different colours and races.

But the criminal attacks on non-South Africans have been targeted mainly on Nigerians and other black Africans including Gambians, Zimbabweans,, Kenyans and Sudanese, among others.

If South Africans are afraid of foreigners or strangers, why are they not attacking white people from other nations who, with their colours, are the real strangers?

What is going on in South Africa has nothing to do with fear of Nigerians and other black nationals. It is deliberate and well-calculated crime targeted at people they cannot compete with, when it comes to hustling for survival. The killing of Nigerians and other blacks as well as burning of their shops/businesses are motivated by envy and inferiority complex.
While it is the whites and Afrikaners as well as Americans, Europeans, Chinese, Lebanese, Indians and others that control a greater percent of the resources and economy of South Africa, Nigerians, Gambians, Kenyans and the others are left to compete with local South African blacks for the lesser opportunities. They therefore are shocked how the so called strangers outsmart them and survive while they lazy about, complaining.

Since the end of apartheid and consequent takeover of government by black majority, the economy of South Africa has continued to nosedive year in year out, because apart from ineptitude of black leaders as is the case with Nigeria and other African countries, corruption that was not in that country’s lexicon when whites were in control, has crept in.

With the decline of the country’s economy, unemployment and economic hardship are biting the people; and rather than face their government and demand for better quality governance, South Africans have found Nigerians and other black Africans as the fall-guys (scapegoats), a way to transfer their aggression, because they know they can target Nigerians and get away with it.

Apart from the factors above, there have been allegations that a lot of South African businessmen and women, especially whites are not investing their monies in the country but rather keeping billions of Dollars in local and foreign banks while the people suffer unemployment and hardship. Yet, these lazy South Africans do not attack the whites who are still controlling a greater chunk of their country’s resources. Instead, they resort to attacking their fellow blacks, who have escaped from similar hard conditions at home, and are struggling for better life.

At the peak of the attacks last week, some South Africans were seen and heard on social media lamenting that Nigerians and other Africans do take jobs that belong to them. But it very clear from their choice of targets that it is the traders and other business people that they attack, rather than job seekers. Most Nigerians in South Africa are there for businesses and not to pick jobs meant for South African blacks. That is the reason why at the slightest signal, they break and loot shops and business premises owned by Nigerians.

If they are fighting for jobs, they would have attacked Chinese, Lebanese and Indians who set up factories and bring in their nationals, in thousands, to take up jobs meant for locals.

There were also several reports of South African men complaining that blacks from other countries, Nigerians in particular, do lure their wives with money and snatch them from their husbands and boyfriends.
On the part of government, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet members know that they have failed woefully to fix the country’s economy which has led to rising unemployment.

And because they are afraid of losing the next election, they are fanning embers of hatred against Nigerians and other blacks as a way to divert attention from their incompetence and bad governance. Rather than be the government in power, they have resorted to speaking like ‘freedom fighters’ and patriots in order to remain relevant for the next election. That is why they speak to ‘prove’ that they are on the side of the people.

Such complaints are shouting evidences of laziness and petty jealousy, especially when looked at from the reported ‘confessions’ of some South African women that Nigerian men are ‘sweet’ and that they know ‘how to take care of women.’

In one of such instances, a South African businessman and motivational speaker Gayton McKenzie was recently quoted as saying that Nigerian men are like kings in South Africa, urging the South Africans to learn from their ‘I can Do It’ spirit, rather than being envious and resorting to attack on them.
He was speaking while promoting his soon-to-be released book with the title, ‘Hustlers Bible 2,’ and urged South African men to stop blaming women for going for Nigerian men, saying they should watch and learn from their enterprising spirit.

“South African men should forget about the scare tactic of lying about narcotics regarding Nigerians. Our ladies discovered it’s a blanket lie. Nigerian men know how to treat women; spending money on them instead of writing poems,” he was quoted to have said.

“Nigerian ni**as ain’t got time for poems, they give your girl cash and a good time. Poems don’t buy louboutins,” he said.

Many Nigerians in South Africa and other parts of the world get to their destinations with only the clothes on their body, no money, no valuable items and nobody to shelter them.

This is after their parents must have sold landed property and other family inheritances to pay for their visa and travel tickets. In appreciation of the ugly fate that they left behind and the need to change their personal and family destinies, they deploy their innate potentialities, taking unimaginable risks that even the devil cannot dare. At the end, they conquer and win, becoming ‘big boys’ a few years later, owning their own businesses, driving exotic cars and living big.

That is why those lazy, envious and criminal-minded South African locals attack, kill and loot properties belonging to Nigerians and other black Africans. That is not xenophobia.