Constance Ikokwu
22 May 2008
Washington, DC — South African Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Welile Nhlapo, yesterday acknowledged that criminal cases involving Nigerians in that country may have been "blown out of proportion" in the past but said Nigerians are welcome.
Nhlapo spoke to THISDAY at a gathering organised by the African diplomatic corps in Washington, D.C., to kick off the Africa Day celebration.
The ambassador says there were no premeditated attacks against Nigerians or other foreigners living in the country but that the South African media may be culpable for exaggerating some issues.
His words: "Nigerians are unfortunate that in certain cases, any Nigerian who is in trouble with the law, it is blown out of proportion. The media in our country is not helpful because they take some of these issues and blow them out of proportion. There is the problem of unsolved crime where people begin to say, it is these foreigners, because they are not documented, so we are not able to trace them."
He says the recent wave of attacks on foreigners is "totally unacceptable" because it reverses the gains the country has made since the defeat of the Apartheid system. The South African government is determined to tackle the issue head-on, the reason why it set up an inter-departmental task team to investigate the crisis and come up with recommendations on measures to be taken, he said.
"We cannot accept this situation because it reverses our gains since the end of apartheid. It is totally unacceptable, we are determined to tackle it. There is nothing South African about this," he said.
Nhlapo said one of the problems in South Africa today is that people are living the consequences of the apartheid system where blacks were unable to get an education for skilled jobs. As a result, there are many Nigerians and people from other countries who have filled vacant positions that South Africans are not qualified to take up. The government has thus, embarked on skills training that will enable natives take up positions in the society.
"This is very appreciated because they stay and they do these jobs. South Africans in that context cannot complain about Nigerians or anybody taking their jobs because we don't have the skills to fill in those posts and this is what is happening," he added.
He told THISDAY that the Nigerian High Commission in the country is working hard to correct wrong impressions about Nigerians. It is also trying to document Nigerians who are in that country, an effort which has led to a drop in the number of cases where Nigerians cannot be accounted for or rescued when they are in trouble, said Nhlapo.
The ambassador talked highly of Nigeria particularly the country's role during the struggle against apartheid. He recalled that Nigeria was the only country that was a member of the Front Line States comprising all the nations in the Southern region.
"That's why we used to talk about the Front Line States plus Nigeria. So Nigeria was part of the decision making in terms of the struggle and support that the countries of the region were giving to our struggle. Nigeria has been part of that and will continue to be," he said.
Nhlapo recalled that President Thabo Mbeki lived in Nigeria and was actually the representative of the African National Congress (ANC) in the country. Many South Africans received education in Nigeria before they got scholarships to go to Europe, he said.
"This crisis cannot undermine the great relationship between both countries," said Nhlapo. "There has been economic and political progress between both countries and that a bi-national commission manages the relationship between them."
The South African government has been in contact with countries whose citizens were victims of the crisis, he said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
