Brothers, Not Twins: Rethinking South Africa’s Place In Africa -By Meko Kelvin Abiola

In December 2019, I visited South Africa on a tourist visa, spending time with several friends living in several hotels. I visited several tourist destinations, including the famous Mandela Square.

It is without doubt that South Africa is one of the (if not the) most developed countries in Africa, with the largest GDP. Infrastructurally, it is way above every other African country, with some of the best companies in the world having their operations in South Africa.

I was met with several surprises during my visit to South Africa, but two of them stood out.

1. The roads in South Africa are constructed in a way that heavy-duty trucks do not share the same road with saloon cars and 4x4s. The result of this is that there is uniformity on the roads and highways, and indeed it is a sight to behold. One does not need much convincing that with an initiative like that, the number of road accidents will be minimal.
2. Prostitution though illegal is widespread as enforcement is poor, and it is carried out in a way that one could hardly tell who was a prostitute from who was not. This is because the ladies carried and presented themselves in ways that are different from the traditional prostitute. The average prostitute wears skimpy and revealing clothes to attract potential solicitors, but in South Africa, their dressing is modest, with most of the ladies dressed in corporate wear, and the effect of this is that one could hardly tell who was a prostitute from who was not. So a man might go out with a lady after a good time out, thinking the lady was not a prostitute, but in the morning, the lady will demand payment, leading to an argument, and sometimes it gets physical.

SOUTH AFRICA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES

South Africa, to me, is the most welcoming country in Africa. This is because South Africa houses about 3.1 million immigrants/foreign-born nationals, making up about 5.1% of its total population. It is important to note that a large proportion of this number live illegally in South Africa or are undocumented.

Citizens from countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) make up about 30% of the total number of illegal and undocumented immigrants. Citizens from SADC have almost unrestricted access to South Africa, due to the policies and agreements between members of the community. Also, South Africa has one of the highest numbers of people from other African countries with refugee status. One would wonder how a country with such a welcoming attitude turned out to be “unwelcoming” and “xenophobic.”

As a Nigerian in Nigeria, it is very difficult to take the position of South Africa, and I really wish that the South African people would understand how difficult it is trying to convince my fellow Nigerians to reason with the South African position. There are times when I am the only one among other people trying to convince them why South Africans carry out the actions they carry out. When South Africa played against Mexico in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, I was the only one among over a hundred people supporting South Africa at a viewing center in Nigeria.

One thing I have been able to figure out so far is that a lot of people came to the conclusion they presently hold from a misinformed position, gotten from either half-baked stories or misinformation on social media and news outlets, and the South African approach is not helping in any way.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN CASE

Government is a reflection of the people it represents. To this effect, whatever policies the government pursues (locally and internationally) must be in tandem with the aspirations and desires of the people. It is not surprising that African leaders do not understand governance from this point of view.

To me, before the governments of South Africa and Ghana enter into a visa-free agreement, the most important consideration should be whether or not THE PEOPLE of both countries want to live side by side, taking into consideration the effect of such a policy on the day-to-day life of the average South African and Ghanaian. To me, it is unreasonable for both governments to enter into an agreement for visa waiver when the South African people have made it clear that they do not want a relationship with Ghanaians on that basis. The result of this carelessness from both governments is the loss of lives from marches carried out by South Africans.

As regards the visa-free policy between both countries, the South African people have raised several concerns. One of the major concerns is that the policy and agreement are being abused by Ghanaians. The South African people claim that Ghanaians carry out businesses in South Africa after arriving on tourist visas, which are supposed to last for 90 days. They went further to accuse Ghanaians of travelling to South Africa, staying for 80 days or more but not above 90 days, travelling back to Ghana, waiting until the 90 days have elapsed, and re-applying for another 90 days. This way, they do not need to apply for a visa, and most of the Ghanaians end up working and starting businesses on tourist visas.

The South African people took it upon themselves to enforce the immigration laws that created this loophole in the first place. Do the South African people have a right to call out crime? The answer is in the affirmative. Do they have a right to make citizens’ arrests? The answer is also in the affirmative.

WHAT THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND

As much as their laws allow them to make citizens’ arrests, this only allows them to make an arrest and hand the suspect over to the police within a limited period of time, but there must be reasonable suspicion. The law does not empower them to enforce, punish, harass, intimidate, physically assault, and even murder the alleged offenders.

Some South Africans have been carried away to the point that they forget that the state has a mechanism to deal with these alleged offences, and any action carried out without the involvement of the state is nothing short of vigilantism. It is even more concerning in this digital age of social media, where issues can be taken out of context.

On this ground, I advise the people of South Africa to pay utmost attention to the information war that comes with the fight they are involved in, and to change their approach so that they are not seen as the aggressors when a careful look at the issues reveals that indeed they are not.

WHAT REALLY ARE THE ISSUES BETWEEN SOUTH AFRICA AND NIGERIA?

The issue, to me, borders on several factors, but I will touch on the most important one, which for me is crime.

South Africans claim that Nigerians in South Africa are largely involved in criminal acts ranging from drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime, fraud, and prostitution, to robbery, et al. Are Nigerians really involved in these criminal conducts?

During my visit to South Africa, I came across a news article about a Nigerian who was murdered by another Nigerian in broad daylight as a result of inter-confraternity fighting. It should be noted that this event was seen by thousands, if not millions, of South Africans.

I was also privy to information that Nigerian drug dealers, some of whom have been convicted, were selling drugs to secondary school kids, leading to abuse, addiction, overdose, insanity, and sometimes death. It is noteworthy that families have been torn apart as a result of these criminal acts.

The number of Nigerians in South African prisons for drug-related and other offenses is a testimony to the reality on the ground, and how it affects the immediate communities where the acts are carried out.

For years, the South African people have raised concerns about the criminal activities carried out by Nigerians. South Africans have also raised concerns about Nigerians living in certain neighbourhoods, living flashy lifestyles that are obviously above their means — from flashy cars to luxury houses and apartments, to designer clothes and expensive jewellery, without any justifiable source of income. It is important to note that some Nigerians in some neighbourhoods can be very insensitive. As a young man who knows very well that his source of wealth is illegitimate, the least he can do for himself and the people around him is to live a life that does not draw attention to himself and, by extension, his activities. But when it comes to Nigerian cyber-criminals in South Africa, the reverse is the case.

An average Nigerian, especially from the South, East, and West, is used to the unpleasantness of cult-related activities, including killing, rape, robbery, armed robbery, et al. Most Nigerian communities take steps to make sure that their communities are rid of cultism, so it begs the question why Nigerians expect South Africans to endure the same menace that Nigerians do not want in their own communities.

To an average South African who is not used to cult-related fighting and deaths, it is an eyesore when they see Nigerians hacking themselves to death in the streets of Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Kwazulu-Natal in the name of numerous cult groups.

Naturally, South Africans are right when they say that criminal activities carried out by foreign nationals can be overwhelming, especially for the immediate communities, and the result of this frustration are the birth of movements like “Operation Dudula” and “March and March.”

It is most concerning that the Nigerian response to the concerns raised by South Africans is that “South Africans also carry out criminal activities, and that these criminal activities are not limited to foreign nationals, including Nigerians”. Nigerians who hold this position fail to realize that a position like this is an admission to the accusations leveled against Nigerians. It is without doubt that South Africans have a right to demand that criminals from other countries, including Nigeria, leave South Africa, so they can deal with the criminals who are South Africans in their own way.

HOW DO WE AS AFRICANS APPROACH THIS ISSUE WITHOUT BEING TORN APART BEYOND RECOGNITION?

The African people must learn and master the art of holding their leaders accountable. This is because most of the reasons why foreign nationals from other African countries troop into South Africa are that, in South Africa, they are afforded the basics, like employment, good infrastructure, the rule of law, a good economy, and other basics that make the life of an average human liveable.

It is without doubt that if the governments of Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, Ghana, et al., prioritize the welfare of their citizens, the number of citizens wanting to travel to other parts of the world, including South Africa, will reduce by a fine margin.

South Africans must also learn to approach these issues in line with the relevant provisions of the law. They cannot claim to be fighting crime while also committing crime in the same breath. They must also understand that their current approach risks isolation from other African countries, and that is something they do not want, especially at this time, when they are in a diplomatic loggerhead with the United States of America and the Jewish State of Israel.

Furthermore, the leaders in Africa must understand the individual differences between the countries they represent, and make diplomatic policies in line with those differences.

If the South African people do not want to live side by side with the Nigerian people, as they have made clear over the years, the governments of both countries must make policies in line with those wishes, and not out of them.

In conclusion, “Africa must unite” has been a slogan that has been trumpeted for generations. But until we respect our differences and respectfully deal with one another along those lines, “Africa must unite” will always be an exercise in futility.