A Bond That Must Never Be Broken (1)

Femi Fani-Kayode

In 1988 Mr. P.W. Botha, who was President of the apartheid South Africa from 1984 till 1989, said the following:

“Black people cannot rule themselves because they don’t have the brain and mental capacity to govern a society. Give them guns, they will kill themselves. Give them power, they will steal all the government money. Give them independence and democracy, they will use it to promote tribalism, ethnicity, bigotry, hatred, killings, and wars!”

These choice words coming from this racist Afrikaaner and white supremacist appall me. They have been entrenched in the inner recesses of my spirit and soul ever since I first came across them 33 long years ago.

My repugnance and revulsion for such sentiments and those who harbour them will never subside. To be sure racism has no place in the civilised world or indeed in the land of the living.

Botha’s mindset seeks to dehumanise us and negate who and what we are as Africans and turn us into what we are not. It is for this very reason that we have an obligation before God to prove him wrong and that is precisely why a failure of governance in either post-apartheid South Africa, Nigeria or indeed anywhere else in Africa is not something that we can accept, tolerate or abide.

We must not only get it right but we must also work closely together in the spirit of Pan Africanism and solidarity. If we fail to do so racists like Botha will laugh in their graves as they witness black South Africans killing their own black African brothers that reside in their country.

Such behaviour, if unabated, provides clear evidence and a stark confirmation of the self-serving narrative and false gospel that Botha seeks to preach which asserts that black Africans are little better than animals and cannot govern themselves. This is a narrative that we as Africans must NEVER give legitimacy or credence to by our words and actions or allow to stand.

Ours is to love one another, work together, help and encourage each other, resolve whatever differences we have and acknowledge the fact that our collective interest and future resides in and can only be guaranteed by love, peace, understanding, unity and solidarity between all of the 54 nations that make up the African continent.

Permit me to go deeper. When you look at the map of Africa and hold it vertically you will see a pistol. Nigeria is in the position of the trigger and South Africa is at the tip of its mouth.

In order for the gun to become a functional, lethal weapon which can hold its own in today’s challenging, fast-changing and competitive world both the trigger and the mouth of the pistol must work closely together and be on the same page.

If the two ever fall apart or move in different directions the gun will lose its functionality and can no longer work: it will at best be nothing but an impotent ornament and soon to be forgotten relic which can be displayed on the shelf of a museum or, at worse, an old piece of worthless iron scrap which can be thrown into the dustbin.

That must never be allowed to happen to us. We must resolve our differences and be in one accord if we seek to achieve our full potentials and if we hope to effect God’s purpose in the lives of our respective nations and indeed our continent.

Without a successful and productive collaboration between her two largest, most powerful and most towering economies, Africa is not going anywhere and those that believe that the black man has no business running the affairs of his own nation and that believe he is wholly incapable of achieving any meaningful success when it comes to governance would have been proved right.

This is why the relationship between our two great countries matters and must be nurtured and sustained despite numerous difficulties and our many challenges. It is also important to recognise the fact that Nigeria and South Africa must be courageous enough to speak the truth to one another when there are challenges in order to ensure that, together, we can overcome the hurdles, remove the obstacles, right the wrongs, build a stronger partnership and sustain the historical ties of solidarity and fraternity that have always existed between us.

The truth is that ours is a sacred bond, forged in fire and blood and sealed by the collective struggles of our forefathers and heroes past. That bond must never be broken. We must deploy our best efforts towards normalising the partnership between our respective countries and cultivate a core of leaders from both sides of the divide that are committed to this noble cause.

Yet despite this, the truth, no matter how bitter, must be spoken. It is in that context, coupled with the concerns of the people and Government of Nigeria that I have taken my time to pen this series and make this contribution.

Consider the following. After ruling out the possibility of any form of compensation to our nationals that lost their investments, businesses, chattels, properties and homes and that were compelled to relocate back to Nigeria as a consequence of the afrophobic attacks that are taking place in South Africa, Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a Minister in the South African Presidency, said the following:

“We would be interested to know where the drug dens of Nigerians are. They can show us where they have been keeping the drugs so that we can clean up the drug dens in South Africa urgently”.

These words, coming from a high ranking South African official are disrespectful and disappointing. They represent a direct attack on the dignity, honor and integrity of our people. Worse still, the following day she knuckled down by writing the following on X: “I hope I was loud and clear on the issue of properties: I mean ALL properties!”

Her message and its intention to firstly emphasise the fact that Nigerians will NOT be compensated for the loss of even their LAWFULLY acquired chattels, businesses, properties and homes and secondly to paint ALL Nigerians drug dealers that operate and own ‘drug dens’ and thereby further endanger their lives is noted.

Permit me to put all this in context. According to Nigerian Embassy officials in Pretoria no less than 6 Nigerians have been murdered in South Africa this year alone whilst a total of 98 of our nationals have been murdered between 2022 and 2026.

All this yet not one South African has been arrested, detained or brought to justice for ANY of these murders and extra-judicial killings. Again thousands of our nationals have been forced to flee their homes, have had their lawful and legitimate businesses taken from them and have been forcefully displaced.

Nigerians, whether documented or not documented, together with their children have been subjected to all manner of violence and humiliation and are targetted by the South African security forces and elements within the South African community even where and when they have done no wrong.

This is unacceptable and when coupled with the hostile rhetoric that is now coming from South African Government officials like Minister Ntshavheni it gives cause for even more concern. The extra judicial killings of two Nigerian nationals by the South African police in the last few weeks and the cold blooded murder of a third by “unidentified individuals” have made matters even worse.

Our government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued a formal statement on this and the unfortunate utterances of Minister Ntshaveni and has condemned the killings.

Amongst much else the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry said, “these killings raise further questions over the general safety of Nigerians and other foreigners in South Africa” and that “the continuing pattern of such terrible incidents is clearly evidence of complicity on the part of security operatives which raises the question of state responsibility under International Law”.

He added: “Nigeria expresses great concern over the recently televised public statement by the spokesperson of the South African Government, asking Nigerians leaving the country due to the ongoing xenophobic protests to show where they hide illegal drugs. The unguarded public statements are unacceptable and are strongly condemned. Such derogatory, unprofessional and uncensored generalised public statements by highly placed government officials constitute hate speech that influences and incites negative and criminal actions against members of the Nigerian community”.

He concluded by saying, “We wish to place the Government of South Africa ON NOTICE that if the situation continues to persist, all options remain on the table, some of which will be activated if the uncultured and provocative trend of intolerance and apartheid-style behaviour of South Africa against foreigners is not addressed”.

This statement is loaded. Sadly despite our concerns the extra-judicial killings have not abated.

According to the Nigerian Citizens Association (NICASA) a Nigerian national by the name of Chika Ibe was allegedly “tortured to death” by members of the South African Police Service after raiding his home in Cape Town on July 23rd. During the course of the same raid another Nigerian by the name of Egwabor Patrick Chucks was shot in the mouth and severely injured by the South African police. This is a serious development. Yet the matter does not end there.

Senator Shehu Sani, a former high ranking Senator representing Kaduna State, expressed his concern by pointing out the malevolent intent and undeniable hostility of Minister Ntshavheni’s words on X when he wrote:

“This is from a SENIOR Government official and NOT a thug from the streets”.

Sani reflected the consternation of Nigerians. Sadly instead of de-escalating the issue the Minister responded to him directly by posting the following on X. She wrote,

“I didn’t stutter!”

Clearly this minister lacks restraint. Yet ‘stutter’ or no ‘stutter’ we did not mince our words. Our humble appeal is that you stop the killing of Nigerians, treat our people like human beings, show them a modicum of decorum and respect and pay compensation to all those that were unlawfully deprived and denied of their lawful property.

Thankfully for every Minister Khumbudzo Tshaveni in the South African Government that displays nothing but disdain and contempt for the Nigerian people there is a Minister Roland Lamola, the Minister of International Integration and Cooperation, who interacts with us with courtesy and decency and shows us nothing but respect and understanding.

• Chief Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Culture and Tourism, a former Minister of Aviation and the Ambassador-designate of Nigeria to South Africa