THERE is apparently no end in sight to South Africa’s burgeoning penchant for treating Nigeria and Nigerians with disdain at every turn. Oftentimes, its conduct towards the country verges on hostility, even though South Africa should ordinarily be a friendly country to Nigeria not just on paper but also in the crucible world of action judging by the two countries’ historical antecedents. Before, during and even after the notorious xenophobic attacks some years ago, Nigerians in South Africa had always been subjects of attacks in that country. While such attacks may not have been state-sanctioned, the government of South Africa is obligated to ensure that every law-abiding national of other countries is not harassed or mistreated, but it does not seem to be doing enough in that regard. Recently, another Nigerian, Chidinma Adetsina’s participation in a beauty pageant in South Africa was cut short on account of an alleged irregularity committed by her mother. Last week, the Nigerian U-18 boys’ basketball players were initially denied visas to South Africa to participate in the AfroBasket Men’s U-18 competition in that country. The head of delegation, Ugo Udezue, confirmed that the team were later issued visas but because of the delay, the team arrived in Pretoria a day later than its expected arrival date. It has always been one embarrassing mistreatment after another.
The initial denial of visas to the Nigerian basketball team by South Africa without any cogent reason or explanation, even after reports by Nigerian officials to the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) and FiBA Africa, represents yet another diplomatic ill treatment of Nigeria by South Africa. This is against the internationally recognised responsibility of host countries for sports competitions. The Nigerian young men seeking visas are a sports team and the competitive event they were going to attend in South Africa had a definite timeline fixed by the organisers, and it was not as if members of the team were applying for residency visas. It is unfortunate that South Africa just chose to be unfriendly to Nigerians, yet again in a circumstance where it had no reason to so do.
This conduct of South Africa towards the young Nigerians, and by implication to Nigeria, smacks of patent hostility. Yes, South Africa ordinarily has the prerogative to issue, delay or deny visas to visitors to its space, but it also has an obligation as the host of an important international sporting event to ensure that representatives of participating countries are not subjected to undue hardship under any guise. The instant delay in the issuance of visas to the young Nigerians constitutes a deliberate subjection to hardship which was avoidable in the first place. We urge the Nigerian government to engage South Africa diplomatically in order to forestall a recurrence of such ugly incidents in the future. It is true that certain Nigerians are accused of selling drugs and committing other crimes in South Africa, and they deserve to be dealt with. However, criminalising all Nigerians and Nigeria as a country on that basis is untenable. Indeed, it is difficult to fathom why South Africa seems to take delight in ill-treating and embarrassing Nigerians and Nigeria in spite of the latter’s abnegations for it as exemplified by the huge contributions it made towards its liberation from the stranglehold of apartheid regimes.
Even if the youth of that country are unaware of Nigeria’s support for their country because of their age, the older elite who control the levers of state and their institutions shouldn’t have forgotten so soon. It is disturbing that South Africa has carried on with its usual unfriendly actions against Nigeria and Nigerians without any fear of reciprocity because it believes Nigeria lacks the leverage to pay it back handsomely in its own coin. In the instant case, Nigeria and its officials must ensure that South Africa pays for this ill treatment. They must ensure that international organisations are apprised of the misbehaviour so that apposite sanctions can be meted out to it as its actions are vitiating international conventions on sports. It would not be out of place for such sanctions to include the denial of further hosting rights and denying it international assignments. Indeed, we do not expect Nigeria to sleep on its rights on these issues and other forms of ill treatment. Rather, it should work on mobilising international attention and opinion on them in order to attract appropriate consequences. Otherwise, South Africa is unlikely to rein in its degrading and undiplomatic treatment and, worse still, other misguided countries may take a cue from its unfriendly conduct.
So many Nigerians miffed by the incident have reportedly taken to the social media to shade the South African Consulate, but that alone won’t cut it. For after the cacophony on the internet, everyone tends to recoil to their shell until another mistreatment happens, and it will happen again unless a robust, frank and firm diplomatic engagement is conducted between the two countries. Notwithstanding its current economic challenges that have circumscribed its hand-holding capacity, Nigeria did too much for and in the continent of Africa to be subjected to incessant physical, psychological and diplomatic harassment by any member state, least of all South Africa. Such deplorable conduct by a supposedly friendly nation against Nigeria verges on disrespect, and more significantly, ingratitude against the backdrop of how long the two countries have come together. Nigeria and South Africa are arguably two of the most strategically significant countries on the continent and, as such, it is counterproductive to the interests of these two countries and their people to continually hold each other in suspicion or be at loggerheads. That is avoidable and, as it stands, South Africa will have to do a lot more, intentionally and genuinely, to see to the resuscitation and sustenance of the mutual love and respect that used to exist between the two sovereign states, their citizens and institutions.
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