posted                      

quote:

---

South Africa: One Country, Three Nations
By
Abubakar Jika
[DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA]
jikaab@yahoo.com
This is the second part of my experiences here in South Africa. The responses of readers to my first article: Perspectives From South Africa, was stunning. I got far more reactions than I anticipated. Most of the responses came from Nigerians living in the United States. Two trends were obvious from the reactions. Firstly, Nigerians are agreed, that our country has performed rather poorly. That we have failed as a country. We are a real let down. Nobody appears to know who exactly to blame.
While some blamed the "ruling class" irrespective of ethnic origins, others blame the "northern oligarchy", even though by now with Obasanjo in place, and obviously his own man, the oligarchy could not be conceivably dictating him to ruin the north. But I guess in Nigeria people still find it convenient to blame the Hausa-Fulani for what is obviously a collective failure of leadership.

The second trend is the obvious indignation of our Igbo compatriots who saw in my blame of Igbo fraudsters here in Durban for our poor public image. They doubted my claims and saw it as an attempt to crucify the Igbos. They demanded evidence from me. First within the context of Nigerian politics I am NOT Igbo-hater. I am actually their friend as my writings obviously show in Nigeria. Their limitations are however three, in my view, in Nigerian politics: they are not diplomatic, they are too ready to sacrifice their own on mesh of pottage and they are too intolerant of others faith, particularly Muslims. These make the Yorubas benefit from their obvious weaknesses.

Now to my proofs. As I am punching this article two Igbo fraudsters are being docked in court for 419 amounting to Rand 1 million which is equal to N18 million. They swindled an English man. This case is attracting massive local press coverage here in Durban. The sad part is they are, as expected, simply identified as Nigerians. Alec, a guy who works at a traveling agency here at the University, this morning told my colleague Balarabe Maikaba of his nasty experiences in the hands of Nigerian fraudsters at Durban. On closer look at the identities Maikaba found them to be Igbo. It took him a 30 minutes lecture on Nigeria and its composition to convince Alec that he is not a "brother of those who tried to dupe Alec".

For Nigerians living here including many decent Igbos in the University, the tragic behaviors of our Igbo compatriots have been long and far. Felix Okonto, a brother to Ike Okonto who writes for THIS DAY from the U.S. is a PhD student here in Engineering and he teaches part time in another University in Durban. He was the first to call us and lecture us on areas to avoid: West street and its adjoining areas. These are the main areas of Igbo prowling. According to him, which we confirmed later, after my colleague lost his 750 dollars to thieves, that the police also raid these areas. I told him there was a nice Igbo restaurant that sells Nigerian delicacies, from which we took breakfast in the morning.

Felix strongly warn us to keep off. That because of the "bad reputation of gansterism, fraud, theft of his own brother-Igbos", the police routinely round up Nigerians there and cart them to cells. You have to talk your way out of jail. He disclosed however, that the "boys" always casually get out, while the innocents suffer. This sad story was confirmed to us by Augustine, a brother of the restaurant owner from Mbaise, Imo state. That was the last time we went there. I must confess I miss the restaurant and its Nigerian delicacies such as Ishewu.

Chike is another Nigerian M.Sc. student in the Faculty of Human Sciences. He saw us in our Northern Nigerian attires and came to us. We became friends. He took two hours telling us of how "his people are ruining the name of Nigerians here". I can go on and on these. I don't want to cite the Olagokes or other Yorubas running their PhD programmes in Gender Studies, whose department is near ours. They are five, all Yorubas. But they all enlighten us on which areas to avoid, again populated by Igbos here in Durban. Indeed as our own token contribution to revamping Nigeria's bad image, I and my colleague always wear our Hausa dresses in Durban, despite the risks these pose to us. At least they see other sets of Nigerians. Of course they are expectedly inquisitive and we take our time to explain that not all Nigerians are fraudsters. Indeed, there are very few northerners here. We are yet to meet one, three weeks after coming to Durban.

Now to the issue of South Africa, which I term: One Country, Three Nations. The reality on ground after extensive mixing with South Africans of different races is that apartheid is officially and formerly dead. But it lives in the minds of many South Africans. First let us take the blacks.

Apartheid not only destroyed them economically, but psychologically. You will be amazed, many black South Africans don't know what is Nigeria or where it is located. They ask you if is up to three hours drive from Durban. They are meek and very docile to the whites. They appear to see any thing white as superior. they have no feelings for or respect fellow blacks. That is the general trend. It is even better relating to the whites than our own fellow blacks.

The majority remain largely illiterate, with very few business opportunities. The economy and infrastructures remain largely white and coloured. This University for instance is over 100 years old. It admitted its first black students only in 1990.And that was for undergraduate studies. The black majority remain largely poor and in the rural areas. They visit the cities and do menial jobs and go freely without passes. But freedom has not been translated to tangible material gains for most of them.
To be fair, any one who see the colossal structures, the economy, roads, telecommunications, buildings, etc not to talk of military might perhaps including nuclear capabilities, can appreciate the awesome might of apartheid. I appreciate better the enormity of the forces Mandela confronted from prison. No wonder the gentle man would remain a global hero of all times. To dismantle apartheid was akin to what the Palestine are facing in the Middle East.

There is a growing band of black supremacist feelings championed by some lowly blacks here. What is called Movement For Virtuousness in Zulu language. A photographer here who is a Member lectured us on their objectives. These sounded like the OPC thing to me: black communes, black transport, black police, black swimming pools, etc. A sort of separatist movement. I don't know how large or strong such movement is. But from the claims of the photographer who believes "all white people are evil" it does appear like a hate group, which is fashionable in developed economies. It point to one thing however. Desmond Tutu's Reconciliation Commission which Nigerians cite, appear not to have finally reconcile the warring parties. In my view, the reason is the inability of the reconciliation process to address economic, bread and butter issues.

To enlighten blacks, such as Zim, an Honors student in the Social Sciences here at the University, there is a contradiction between, the Equity Act passed by parliament after freedom, which provided for redress through "fair discrimination" and the Constitution that ushered that freedom which explicitly forbids any form of discrimination no matter its grounds. Here lies the dilemma of post apartheid South Africa: How do you redress the obvious discrimination blacks endured over 100 years which entrenched current white privileges, without discriminating against the same whites? It is a question even large-hearted Mandela found a hardnut to crack. He gave way to younger ones. It is obvious even they, after, they as we say in Nigeria, "belleful" have to confront. You will in the nite, after the cops move to more dangerous zones in search of criminals, be confronted by an army of black youths, hungry, begging for what to eat: South Africa's "Almajirai".

Yes, South Africa has its own version of Kano's Almajirai: bands of jobless, hungry youths chanting for assistance. The only difference is they don't carry bowls, an ingenuity but for fear of being robbed we could have suggested to them. My friend Maikaba, a Kano man was saying if he imported Kano's Almajirai, they will become fat here due to countless dustbins. He had to "eat" his words, as he saw they could meet quite a challenge from the South African version of youth black beggars.
I am yet to meet a white who begs or enter buses here. We only saw a lone mad white man looking for alms and out of novelty my Colleague dashed him a rand. Such is the situation on ground here, that our Yoruba newspapers that liken the Nigerian situation before Obasanjo to South Africa and the Hausa-Fulani to the Boers were so unfair to us. Perhaps the reverse is more the case, at least at the level of the Nigerian economy.

Now to the South African whites. They are made up of the English, who are more liberal and the Afrikaans who are more harden. But NOT all Afrikaans are hard-line. They have some liberals. But on a general level most of the whites I spoke to are disappointed with the way the blacks are managing their legacies First, they cite rising crime rates across South Africa. This I believe from media reports they are right. Crime was lower under apartheid. The laws in the view of many people are to laxed now: low sentences and lengthy process to catch criminals and convict them. The police appear not to be helping matters.

My colleague Maikaba, whose 750 dollars were stolen right inside our hotel here in Durban, by apparent internal collaboration: bag ripped off, door untouched, was told by cops, they can't do anything, since he did not physically catch any thief. Infact after the hotel followed up the case, the police told them they have already closed the file, even before they open it. Harun an Indian who work at the hotel confided that, this was not how the ap[artheid police work. That a miscreant who lifted his own 650 Rand in a bus, and who he pointed to the police, was told by the police to first "catch the thief. and they will prosecute the thief".

The whites also talk of the economy nose-diving, a claim Harun the Indian Hotel receptionist concurred. That since 1994,according to them the economy took a dive. I was not around and cannot independently verify this. But it is a theme the whites appear unanimous on: the blacks are bad economic managers. But perhaps IMF/WORLD BANK are to be blamed. It could even be a collaboration to discredit the blacks, since the economy is privately owned and in the hands of whites.
The third area of nostalgia for the whites is on employment. They argue that during their time, the economy is buoyant and unemployment is 2 per cent. Now they cry, unemployment is 70 per cent. These are figures I could not independently verify. The whites, and I spoke to many of them in their shops insist that when they were ruling, the blacks had no freedom, but have jobs and food to eat. That all blacks had jobs no matter how lowly. Now blacks are free, but no jobs, no food. That which one is better? Educated blacks, such as Zim the Social Science student however dismissed the whites claim as bellyaching after loosing power. As she call them" bosses former" gave them bad jobs and kept the good ones. She agreed that there are unemployment now more than before, but she queries the quality of the apartheid jobs.

We have the third group, the Indians or coloured. To me they are the more politically dubious. If blacks are near, they support scrapping of apartheid. The Muslim ones, appear more pious, with long beards and Halal foods. But they rip you off in a jiffy. They double their prices and cut you, if they get the chance. If they know you are Nigerian and has no stake in South Africa, they run the blacks down as bad administrators and poor managers. They recall apartheid with nostalgia: security, peace, jobs, good economy. Zipho the photographer call them cowardly hypocrites.
That makes South Africa a country with three nations. What worsen the situation in my view is the recent history, which appears to be an embarrassment that foreclosed public discourse of race matters. Justine, who works in a travel agency believes that while blacks from other parts of Africa freely discuss racial issues, blacks here still have complex problems which makes such issues to be driven underground. But one day South Africa has to confront its past, before its tomorrow. Not in a circuit public show, but concessions on ground. t could then become one country, one people.
ABUBAKAR JIKA, writes from Graduate Programme in Media & Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humans Sciences, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa.

---

posted                      

quote:

---

On closer look at the identities Maikaba found them to be Igbo. It took him a 30 minutes lecture on Nigeria and its composition to convince Alec that he is not a "brother of those who tried to dupe Alec".

---

posted                         

quote:

---

The title of this write-up calls for an Igbo candidate for president of Nigeria in 2003. I have to delve into the past before arriving at a reasonable conclusion on whom the candidate should or should not be. Many prominent Igbo politicians, and people in business have made statements about their preferred candidate for the exalted position. In my previous article titled, "Can Chief Olusegun Obasanjo be defeated in 2003" posted on May 8, 2002, I subscribed that Ndiigbo should look to the hills of Minna, and ask IBB to come out for the position, while they present the Vice President. This combination I said would crush the Obasanjo/Atiku ticket.
Max Gbanite

---