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| S.A. Xenophobic attacks: Protesters shutdown South African companies in Nigeria |
Members of The Flagship, an affiliate of Edo Civil Society Organisations shutdown MTN office in Benin City, Edo State over the killings of Nigerians in South Africa, calling all Nigerians to boycott the products and services of South African companies in Nigeria.
Other South African companies in Nigeria may suffer as a backlash of the raging violence in South African cities. Strong reactions are trailing the xenophobic attacks raging in South Africa. The Durban violence outbreak follows similar violence in Soweto where foreign shops were looted and foreigners displaced three weeks ago. The attacks started after Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini said in a public speech that foreigners in South Africa should return to their countries and the remarks were widely viewed as having sparked the xenophobic attacks.
In 2008, in the worst violence to date against foreigners, over a dozen people were killed — some burnt alive through neck-lacing, a barbaric, painful slow-killing method in which a burning tyre, filled with petrol, is placed around one’s neck. At the time, the then South African president Mbeki, horrified by the violence, said South Africans’ heads were “bowed in shame.”
Videos of the attacks have gone viral. The Biafran sighted and obtained several videos shot in Durban and other parts of South Africa showing were mobs were burning people alive and stoning others to death.
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The Nigerian Government has become the latest in condemning the attacks directed at migrants and migrant workers, especially of African origin.
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| S.A. Xenophobic attacks: Protesters shutdown South African companies in Nigeria |
The Nigerian Consul-General in South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, yesterday, said Nigerians lost more than 1.2 million Rand (N21 million) in the on-going xenophobic attacks.
She said the loss included looted shops, burnt shops, two burnt mechanic workshops, 11 burnt cars and two stolen cars, among others.
“Nigerians have compiled damage to their property and it is totalling about 1.2 million Rand or N21 million, which will be sent to the Federal Government for further action,’’ she was quoted to have said on phone from Johannesburg, South Africa.
She said in Durban, two of the three Nigerians who were wounded during attacks had been treated and discharged from the hospital.
The consul-general said she would go back to Durban to assess the situation on ground and meet with the provincial authority on security of Nigerians in that province.
“The Nigerian mission in South Africa is on top of the situation. We are working hard to protect Nigerians in South Africa.
“Though, the task has not been easy, we are trying our best. In one of the hot spots at Jeppe, near Johannesburg, the mission assisted about 50 stranded Nigerians to re-settle.
“I have also visited the site of the attacks in Johannesburg to assess the damage and it was enormous,’’ she said.
She said the Nigerian mission would meet with all Nigerian Union chapters in the nine provinces of South Africa to find strategies on how to check the attacks.
“I am bringing all Nigerians together so that we work out a vigilance and alert mechanism; they will also tell me what their challenges and issues are,’’ she said.
Okeke said the mission and the Nigerian Union had been working cordially to meet the challenges caused by the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.
Related Stories:
- Strong reactions, anger trail xenophobic attacks in South Africa. 800 Zimbabweans displaced. 1 dead
- S.A opposition leader Julius Malema blasts Jacob Zuma over xenophobic attacks. Raises Zuma and son's complecity in the raging violence
- Between the Zulu King, Fashola and Oba of Lagos. The Xenophobic Kings of Africa
- S.A xenophobic attack updates: For the first time Mugabe condemns 'horrible' xenophobic attacks. S.A. neighbouring countries react.
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