Xenophobic Attacks: South Africans being hypocritical – Analyst

A security analyst, Nana Owusu Sekyere, has described the attacks on other African nationals in South Africa as hypocritical, especially as Europeans rather control majority of the wealth generated in that country.

The latest in the recurring attacks was triggered allegedly by the operations of brothel services by some nationals from Nigeria, Somalia, and Zimbabwe.

The South Africans claim the foreigners have illegally taken over their properties and jobs. They have also accused the Nigerians of turning their communities into drug havens and dens for prostitution.

But speaking to Class News, Nana Owusu-Sekyere said the perpetrators of the attacks were being hypocritical and called on the African Union (AU) to take serious action to forestall a recurrence of attacks.

“I do think that the perception of the indigenes of South Africa is fuelling this whole brouhaha. It is a perception, badly so because they feel out of their laziness, out of their inability to find work, it is the fault of those who have come to their country. We have it on record that about 80 percent of the wealth in South Africa are being held by whites. We also have it on record that over 6000 Europeans own some farmlands in South Africa. Now, if you put even the 1.6 million immigrants who are blacks together, their wealth does not add up to one per cent. So, then, you ask yourself: ‘what is it that these people are trying to do?’ They are just cheap miscreants [and] hypocrites that actually feel the need to attack the weak and they find the Africans as the weak ones,” he stated.

“Why are they not attacking the whites? Why are they not attacking the Europeans who have got farmlands [and] they are over 6000 families over there. It is because they find us weak and cheap. And this is so distasteful that all African countries must rise up. If AU is going to become a mother just providing breast milk, I’m afraid they should stop providing breast milk. They should go beyond it because we need to grow, we need to eat very quickly, and we need to take the right measures.”