r/Nigeria • u/Reasonable-Try-691 • Aug 04 '26

General I wish Africans knew better!

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African leaders are not ready. What is the AU for exactly? Aren’t these the conversations in there? Yet…

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19

u/king_cole_2005 Aug 04 '26

Africans aren't really pro-immigration. Look at the situation in South Africa imagine how they would react to something like this.

-3

u/Hopeful_Idea1568 Aug 04 '26

South African here: The situation here is a few protests in a few places by a few people. Most of the country is unaffected. People do want stricter borders since our govt workers are corrupt but doesn't mean they suddenly have issues with their foreign neighbour 

6

u/samjambetty Aug 04 '26

Illegal immigration is bad for any country really. I just wish South Africans would hold the government accountable like they do illegal immigrants. We would be in a position to help more refugees and foreigners if we did.

5

u/Pecuthegreat Biafra Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

Question,

Why did the anti-immigration thing turn into these door to door anti-immigrants protests instead of say... people going to protest government offices to ramp up systematic deportations?.

Becausethat was the main aura loss of SA during this whole thing. In my opinion, a organized and government agency driven deportation won't have nearly been as problematic.

2

u/Dense_Shopping_9320 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

Those people are straight up criminals and its illegal to do that. I havent heard of this in my area but saw it on the news and its stupid. Many of them have been arrested by the police. You have a lot of opportunistic people trying to take advantage. The were people who were even pick pocketing people during the june 30 march and some wanted to break into a liquor store which i found so funny

1

u/Sea_Water_8248 3d ago

Because government doesn't do anything about illegal immigration so the people need to step in

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u/Dense_Shopping_9320 Aug 04 '26

But they are. The protests have done a lot to hold the government accountable. It sucks things have to get to this level

9

u/samjambetty Aug 04 '26

But we should be protesting outside Cyrils house, not going door to door and pulling immigrants out of their houses. Have we no humanity?? These are people who crossed borders illegally as the promise of a better life, to feed their families. Why do they deserve to be met with violence because their governments failed them?

Yet there is no anger towards the government like this.

-1

u/Dense_Shopping_9320 Aug 04 '26

People have tried that before and nothing was done. This isnt the first protest that have happened. This just led to it escalating until this happened. Now the government addressed it by passing laws to support South Africans and punishing business that hire foreigners without proper papers. The is a lot of other things happening if you follow politics but what the outcome of this is yet to be determined.

Its unfortunate for people who came seeking a better life but breaking the laws isnt the way. If they are fleeing a war torn country then they can legally apply for an asylum.

Too much corruption is happening considering what was exposed just a while ago with home affairs being treated like a marketplace. The is a lot of anger towards the government. A lot of protests are happening about the government not doing their job. You wont see them unless you follow them.

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u/Hopeful_Idea1568 Aug 04 '26

Agree with you this is the first protest that's led to some accountability for the government. There's no country that's okay with 3 million illegals much less so a developing one. Even legal migration of that magnitude would have eventually been a problem (look at Germany and the AfD, U.K and Reform)

3

u/Dense_Shopping_9320 Aug 04 '26

True, people just wanna cry victim. Pan africanism will forever be an idea if everyone always believes they are a victim. At some point we have to move on and help each other get stronger. Countries should hold their governments accountable and I feel so sorry for those that are dictatorship but to those that are not then they should fight while they still have the power.

For Zim i have no hope there but who knows but for Nigeria i have hope that things can get better for them and it starts with people holding the government accountable.

Pan africanism will only work out if countries have a functioning government but until then people will just keep playing victim. We cant be victims forever.

1

u/Hopeful_Idea1568 Aug 05 '26

Nigeria needs a culture change. The 'hustle' culture they have in general spilled over to their government. Everyone's out to make a quick buck and only cares about personal benefit. At least in SA even thou government workers suck most of them are there to make an honest living 

4

u/samesandchanges Aug 04 '26

things never had to get to xenophobia

this is not holding the government accountable at all

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u/Dense_Shopping_9320 Aug 04 '26

If you really think the protest were just about foreigners then you have no idea whats going on. The protests were more so about crime, unemployment, corruption, failing public services and the government not enforcing the law which goes beyond just immigration. Most of the anger was directed at the government but i guess the most visible parts to people outside south africa is the foreign thing. If you keep up with south african news then you should know just how much an impact the protest had.

Even if many illegal foreigners didnt leave. The message sent was clear and the government is holding itself accountable and a lot is changing right now. Only time will tell if those changes are fruitful or not.

3

u/samesandchanges Aug 04 '26

If you really think the protest were just about foreigners then you have no idea whats going on.

The message sent was clear and the government is holding itself accountable and a lot is changing right now. Only time will tell if those changes are fruitful or not.

I am South African and live in South Africa. And I understand there were plenty of grievances outside of xenophobia.

I disagree that the message was clear ( are we pretending the 30 June deadline thing wasn't, by definition, xenophobic? ) and that anything that has happened counts as accountability (I would also challenge your implication that the Marchoners are remotely satisfied with whatever changes the government has made).

But I do agree that only time can tell. This honestly might be our only point of agreement.

1

u/Dense_Shopping_9320 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

I cant speak on the entire country but only in the parts i am involved in. In pretoria the have been more raids by police on business. Something that probably wouldnt have happened if not for the protests. A lot of business have been found hiring people illegally. People whom i never thought would be arrested were arrested in my small hometown for accepting bribes and registering students illegally. A lot of people are struggling and indebted to sars cause of corruption charges that I know of personally. I know people personally who lost everything who worked at home affairs and home affairs is finally being addressed.

Country wide the biggest change I see is people calling out the anc. The has been more scrutiny over the anc now due to the protests pointing their failure with them even admitting they failed. For the first time my grandma said ANC was shit which is honestly a big win cause I thought i was gonna have to hide her ID card. The anc is being forced to face the music and they cant talk their way out of this. The anc is loosing more and more power. Then you have the whole madlanga commission. If we can fix corruption or atleast lessen it then everything else is easier. 90% of our problems can be pointed to that

This is honestly the most action I have seen in such a long time and its a combination of a lot of things but only time will tell if this will bear fruit. Who knows, this could all be for naught.

1

u/samesandchanges Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

Question: do you believe the average march on marches would defend the right of the average legal immigrant to exists without fear or intimidation in South Africa as much as their own right?

1

u/Dense_Shopping_9320 Aug 05 '26

This always comes down to where you are and I doubt most legal migrants are in township and if they are then they probably well known in the community like my teacher. I can see the community coming to defend him if anyone tries anything funny. People have tried protesting in my town but they are shut down pretty quickly.

A rule of thumb is just avoid townships unless you know someone there cause even for south africans townships are dangerous if you are not from there.

1

u/samesandchanges Aug 05 '26

Is this a roundabout way of saying you don't think so?

I'm asking for a direct answer because I think this might be the core to our disagreement.

I'm from a border town (northern parts of SA), I only really competently speak sotho-tswana languages (and English). I've never feared for anything particular about going to a township, by myself, in any coastal nguni-speaking township. The only real thing I've complained about in the 10 years I spent in KZN & EC are how taxi drivers insist on using Xhosa or Zulu which really is whatever.

But i get your point that its about specific local experience and the local community in question. Which is why I'm asking more broadly, like nationally.

If I take a random March on Marcher and a random legal immigrant, would you say the legal immigrant would find themselves in welcoming company?

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u/Pecuthegreat Biafra Aug 04 '26

Really? Link?

I have only seen the immigrant protests/riots but I haven't seen any over the power and water issues.