Citizens Not Targets of Attack in South Africa

Austine Odo

13 July 2011

interview

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. It is a parliamentary democracy comprising nine provinces with a 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans. It is bounded to the north by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is a landlocked enclave within South African territory.

South Africa has diverse cultures and languages, eleven of which are recognised by the constitution. Two are of European origin- Afrikaans, which originated mainly from Dutch spoken by majority of whites and coloured South Africans, and South African English. English is commonly used but it is only the fifth most-spoken language. About 79.5% of the South African population is black African. It is one of the founding members of the African Union, and has the largest economy of all the members. It is also a founding member of the UN and NEPAD. South Africa is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Antarctic Treaty System, Southern African Development Community, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, Southern African Customs Union, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, Group of 77, G20, G8+5 and BRICS. Its capital is Johannesburg and the 2010 population estimate is 49,991,300. The present president is Jacob Zuma. The country’s Minister Counsellor/ Deputy High Commissioner and Charge d’ Affairs, Mr. Godfrey Mulaudzi, spoke to Daily Trust alongside the High Commission’s First Secretary Political, Mr. Mothusi Choeunyane, on relations with Nigeria. Excerpts

How would you assess the present relations between Nigeria and South Africa?

Relations between Nigeria and South Africa are very special, Nigeria is our strategic partner, as you know, when you talk of Africa, the countries that come up for mention are South Africa and Nigeria, therefore we believe that is one of our special relationships. We’ve been managing our bilateral relations with Nigeria through the bi-national commission, and I think outside that when you talk of Nigeria-South African relations, the focus is always on government to government and in fact there is so much work we are also doing on people to people.

Some of the outreach programs such as the Nelson Mandela Day are really part of the programs to reach out to the communities that were there during the anti-apartheid movement where we feel we need to do more to engage the communities where we can. Politically the relationship is strategic, we collaborate in many areas, we are key role players in the African Union, Nigeria is the powerhouse in West Africa, and so we are in Southern Africa, and together we discuss issues of common interest.

The priority to both of us is the development of the African continent, therefore the AU becomes the agent through which we advance our interests on the African continent. We share so much in common with Nigeria and we have been very grateful for the role Nigeria played during the anti-apartheid movement, we owe it to the Nigerian communities, the public and government, we say thank you, thank you. If it wasn’t for the efforts the Nigerians put in it would have probably taken even longer, or may be not even now. We at the bi-national commission looked at a whole lot of areas where we cooperate, from economic issues to defence and security, science and technology, education and tourism. Theses are some of the key areas that we’ve come together to say we are ready to cooperate so that we can compliment each other’s efforts.

Our zeal is that Africa has to be taken to the next level, and if we don’t do it as two countries nobody will do it. It is incumbent upon us as two countries to take the lead in some of these areas and indeed the relations I think is cordial. We do differ in certain areas but friends are meant to differ. We have always had a common approach in dealing with issues that affect Africa and the developing world, and often we are always on the same page, the ultimate goal has always been on a common agenda, which is aimed at really making sure that we present a unified position from Africa.

Are there any specific areas of focus?

Many South African companies are taking advantage of the market in Nigeria, and there are many Nigerian companies particularly in the oil and gas sector that are also making time to take advantage of the market in South Africa as well.

There are various companies and academic institutions that are collaborating on exchange of ideas and technical issues on energy. Education is one of the areas we also focusing on, it is one of the key areas of cooperation between the two countries, for example, the training of ex-militants in the Niger Delta, where the Nigerian government is sending them to South Africa to receive training on marine and other areas, that shows how close we are and we believe we should be here in Nigeria not only to contribute where we can but to also assist particularly in the communities.

Our approach has been two-fold as I said-government to government and people to people. So as we pursue our bilateral relations, that’s one aspect of the relations we always take into account, for that we are grateful, the South African government and South African Airways are all appreciative of the opportunities , we recognise that this is a big market therefore we have to do more to reach out to Nigerians. You don’t necessarily have to go outside the continent, there is a place not far from here, an African country where you can feel at home, there are many opportunities, there are many areas that you could take advantage of and those are some of the things we are trying to do as a mission.

In spite of the cordial relations, there have been reports of Nigerians being attacked in South Africa, possibly they are not wanted there?

What I said in the beginning is that it is important that we encourage reporting on our relations and interactions with Nigeria and other countries, but it is also important that we also look at the facts, because a lot of reporting lately have been distortion of facts. Its just like before one came here, the perception just based on reading reports was that Nigeria is just a bad place to be, you are going to regret going to Nigeria, and I always tell people here that it takes a trip to Nigeria to realise how wonderful the country is.

There may be one or two persons that are probably messing the name of the country up, but the truth of the matter is that it is a wonderful place. Coming back to the issue of Nigerians being attacked in South Africa, we have never dismissed that there have been unfortunate incidents where foreign nationals were confronted by some South Africans in various cities across the country, but it is something that government was clear about from the beginning in terms of distancing itself from the acts.

We have never condoned such acts and we have done our best trying to bring those responsible to book. Our country is very free and therefore we believe that if you are in the country and you came through the legal means there is no harm because it is a free country where everybody should have the right to participate in our activities, whether it is socio-political or economic, where you can. So those incidents were unfortunate, and I am yet to get sight about the Nigerians who were really attacked, I remember there were reports saying there were hundreds of Nigerians that were alleged to have been killed which is not true.

And I tell you recently I heard about the number of foreign inmates in some of our prisons and somebody was saying, who is on that list, and I said I don’t know. It is surprising that Nigerians are not even on the top three of the number of inmates of other countries in that prison, you’ve got other countries that are there, but that shows that people tend to confuse every foreigner to be those of a particular country.

You mean Nigerians have not been touched?

There has never been any attempt to target Nigerians, that one we can tell you off-hand. If there is any evidence to that effect we have indicated to your government that we will be able to assist in any way possible, we collaborate in the exchange of information on any issue that may assist us in making sure that we deal with this issue because it is so unfortunate that we as African countries are trying to unite then we got certain criminal minded individuals who would want to take advantage of our hospitality to say these guys are targeting Nigerians.

We will never have any policy of government aimed at targeting any national, whether you are from west or east or south or north, we believe we should all be given the same treatment to have access to all the opportunities. Nigeria is home to our luminaries and political leaders so it would be unfortunate to condone this kind of act. There was a time during that unfortunate xenophobic attempt in South Africa, some people were just trying to take advantage of the situation.

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