Xenophobia: Nigerians react to South African attacks on Twitter

Nigerians who use the social media platform called Twitter, have held nothing back since news of the latest xenophobic attacks in South Africa made it into cyberspace.

On Monday, September 2, 2019, the President of the Nigeria Union of South Africa (NUSA), Adetola Olubajo, told the world that South Africans have been beating up Nigerians and other foreigners, while burning up and looting their shops for fun.

Olubajo said the mob launched attacks on foreigners in the Jeppestown area of Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city, on Sunday, September 1, leaving three dead.

Reaction from Nigeria's minister

Olubajo added that over 50 businesses belonging to foreign nationals were destroyed, looted and torched at night by the mob.

"The means of livelihood of people were looted and destroyed by fire overnight which have left many Nigerians traumatized.

"Nigeria-owned businesses were seriously affected. A car sales business owned by a Nigerian were among the several businesses set ablaze over the night.

"Although the Police said that many people had been arrested in connection with the unnecessary attacks, the looting and burning of foreign-owned businesses continued till Monday morning," Olubajo lamented.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, immediately decried the xenophobic attacks, stating emphatically that: “enough is enough”.

"Received sickening and depressing news of continued burning and looting of Nigerian shops and premises in South Africa by mindless criminals with ineffective police protection. Enough is enough. We will take definitive measures," he posted on his Twitter page.

The hashtags #Xenophobia #SayNoToXenophobia, #XenophobicAttack and even #DSTV have emerged the top trends on Twitter in the last 48hrs and counting.

The xenophobic attacks are being launched just hours before South Africa hosts the rest of the planet for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Cape Town; with economic pundits positing that the attacks couldn't have come at a worse time for the rainbow nation.

Former Nigeria Vice President and presidential candidate in the 2019 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; and pop artiste Banky W, are among thousands of Nigerians who have weighed in on the subject online.

Here are some reactions below:

Nigerians have endured xenophobic attacks in South Africa for years.

At least 127 Nigerians have died from xenophobic attacks in the last three years.

At least 13 of those were documented to have been killed by officers of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Last week, it was revealed that four SAPS officers were arrested in connection to the death of Pius Abiazem, a Nigerian businessman.

Abiaziem reportedly died while he was being interrogated by a team of police officers at his home in Eastern Cape on August 23, 2019.

Profiling of Nigerians by South African police officers has also been widely reported.

Bilateral meetings

During the screening of President Buhari's ministerial nominees in July, Senate President Ahmad Lawan took Onyeama up on what he intended to do to end the prevalent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

During a bilateral meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on the sidelines of the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) last week, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his government is working to put an end to the attacks.

"We feel very upset about that. Obviously, our criminal justice system is working on it. We don't support killings," Ramaphosa said.

Both leaders are expected to discuss the issue at length during Buhari's official visit to South Africa in October.

Nigeria and South Africa are the biggest economies in Africa, with trade between both nations amounting to billions of dollars annually.