The city of Rosettenville, Johannesburg, South Africa was aflame over the weekend with the burning of 15 houses belonging to foreigners, mostly Nigerians.
The residents are angry that foreign nationals had turned the neighborhood into a drug haven. Some shops belonging to foreign nationals in the area were also looted or torched. South Africa residents in the area claim Nigerians had illegally taken over most properties and turned them into drug and prostitution dens.
The African Diaspora Forum chairperson, marc Gbaffou who confirmed the attacks blamed Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba for his comments for his statement in December that that illegal immigrants in the country should be treated as criminals.
On Friday he said foreign nationals were using girls as young as nine as prostitutes in drug houses.
Steven Laurence, a Nigerian national who lives at a block of flats called Capessa Court says he received a call from his wife to urgently come home when protesters were marching outside their gate.“I told her to take my daughter and lie on the ground,” he says.
When he made it home, he found police shooting rubber bullets to disperse protesters. Later that evening, protesters returned to his street and torched a neighbour’s house believed to be run by drug dealers and two flats in his complex believed to be a brothel.
Steven says living with his wife and daughter where a brothel is operating down the corridor is challenging. “Unfortunately for us this is the only place that we can afford to stay,” he says. “I can’t move to the townships because I am a foreigner and I can’t afford to live in an expensive suburb.”
A few blocks away from his flat, Max Izuma, runs a bottle store which was looted and set on fire. “I came to live in South Africa because the living conditions are better here than in Nigeria, but I am operating a legitimate business,” he says.
“This was an act of xenophobia, I have lost millions now and I have to start from scratch,” he says. Max says he employed South Africans at his bar and people from the entire community enjoyed hanging out there.
“I don’t understand why my bar was targeted, I have contacted the police on several occasions to patrol our street and keep the customers safe. I was attacked because I’m Nigerian,” he added.
A high-level government delegation led by South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba visited areas in Johannesburg yesterday which are populated by immigrants. Yeoville, Mayfair and Rosettenville have been put on their radar.
Are the South Africans fighting crimes or they are just simply xenophobic? The authorities South Africa must find answers to this and ensure the safety and well being of Nigerians and other foreigners residing in the country
