Angry South Africans burn houses of Nigerians
At least 15 houses either belonging or rented by immigrants, especially Nigerians, have been burnt by angry residents in Rosettenvile, south of Johannesburg.
The residents are reported to be angry that foreign nationals had turned the neighbourhood into a drug haven.
According to Africa Review, some shops belonging to foreign nationals in the area were also looted on Sunday.
South African residents in the area claim Nigerians had illegally taken over most property and turned them into drug and prostitution dens.
Marc Gbaffou, African Diaspora Forum (ADM) chairperson, confirmed the attacks and blamed Herman Mashaba, Johannesburg mayor, for his inflammatory comments.
Early last December, Mashaba told a media conference that illegal immigrants got there criminally and should be treated as such.
During a visit to Rosettenville on Friday, he made claims that foreign nationals were using girls as young as nine as prostitutes in ‘drug houses’.
“According to community members, these homes are illegally occupied by Nigerian foreign nationals who run the homes as brothels and have girls as young as nine years old working as prostitutes,” he said.
“Many of the women in these brothels are also alleged to have no official identification documentation.”
Gbaffou said it was reckless for the mayor to make such a statement without proof.
“What proof does he have that foreigners are running these brothels? His remarks are very inflammatory, and it makes no difference that he has diverted from illegal immigrants to drug peddling. It is very dangerous and we see it as propaganda of hatred,” he said.
A community leader, Andile Tshem, called on residents to desist from violence, adding that it was high time law enforcement agents took action against criminals.
“We don’t encourage this at all, you cannot correct a wrong with another wrong. South African people must not be living on the streets when foreigners are using houses as brothels,” he said.
Police have arrested a man found in one of the houses that was set alight in Rosettenville.
Some Nigerians in Johannesburg took to Twitter to express their anger.
Woww, this is so so annoying & bad. Most they burn houses to announce their displeasure? Why don’t they call on the police to carry out arrest if these allegations are though rather than engaging in violence? I think this is what shld obtain in a civilised nation or society. U’re waking a sleeping giant in an unpleasant manner.
You have spoken very well. That’s an effort to wake a sleeping lion. That should have reported to police to carry on investigation and action if the allegation is true than engaging in violence by burning houses of sleeping lions.
Nigeria government should take a strong step about d matter dis not first time South Africans will be killing Nigerians in their country wat ever d case may be is not right for an individual to take law in to their hands
Very very unfair at this civilization we all need to be out brother’s keeper and if such claim happened it’s very advisable to report to the respective agencies…
Nigerians In SA have really invested efforts in doing EVIL. I am a Nigerian who owns a house in SA. It was hijacked by drug dealers. It took me months upon months of battle to get them out. And guess what, they were Nigerians. Its really bad and we need to call a spade a spade. Lets not reduce this to anything else. Until good people rise up and take a stand, bad people will continue to determine the story of Nigeria. Everymorning over 40 young men wake up, and hand out on street corners selling drugs. This is the only people group that does such a thing. Its really bad.
I agree with you but the mayor should be cautioned for irresponsible utterances and call the police in. You find these irresponsible Nigerians all over the place Ghana, the UK, and it either scams and drugs, they don’t give a damn about anything. I asked one that was into scams that when you have destroyed the system and you become rich, how do you want to be safe with the system you helped to destroy eventually he was caught and in jail now. Especially the young ibos from the village that don’t have a clue about how to live a decent life, every crime to them is business
No sentiment please! If you got nothing tangible to add, shut up. Even your name is fake. There’s no difference b/w you and the mayor.
The problem is all over a group of south Africans led by a lady called Patience and her husband Xolani and Noluzuko and their two mothers hijacked my property and today they are collecting rent and buying cars I have been to all relevant authorities in the country to get the matter resolved for the past 10 years nothing has been done, as much as i do not support evil be it committed by a Nigerian or a South African , the fact is that to leave in a foreign land is not easy, you will always be a target of people frustrations, every politician will use you to get votes , think about Donald Trump, what I can say is that we are in trump era of Nationalism and opportunistic politics, the world is going back to 1945,you can calculate how many years backward , this is just the beginning. we should look inward and acknowledge the failures of the state of Nigeria why so many of its citizens are outside ,if you look at the way things are going worldwide people will soon be required to go home to their respective nation and sit down to discourse how people should co-exist in this so called globalization, some nations have so much money to invest in other people nation and the others cannot, yet they reap the benefits and turn around and tell others that they do not want them in their country, take a example of USA today with a their products all over the world and money being repatriated back to USA, yet a leader like Mr Trump can come up and insult other people without restrain , it is a disgrace to see what my fellow Nigerians are doing , the problem is charity begins at home, when money and materialism is worshiped beyond limits this is simply the result and innocent people will be caught up in the fight and they will always be the victim, yes the drug lords will always escaped, aided by the same authorities that was supposed to prosecute them, then there comes the innocent ones who has not committed any offense, they are the ones that will be caught up in the crossfire of hatred and xenophobia by the so called angry mobs who are also thieves of their own. It is quite an unfortunate situation ,I went to the shop this morning I cannot help but look back 20 times behind me, so much fears, wondering when will all this come to an end.There are things you can control and things you cannot, but the fact of the matter is that few Nigerians has destroyed us and our reputation to the extent that the live of a Nigeria living here does not really worth a cent, so sad , the so called drug dealers has got no morale and cares for nothing putting the vast majority of us at risk, no matter whom you are as a Nigerian you are being regarded as a criminal,justice is not for you, so sad, but this is the way it is. we are in the Trump era, an era of Nationalism,Nationalism caused WWW 1 and WWW 2, it will still be the trigger for WWW 3 , who says history always repeats its self? , we can only watch and see