A South African woman who identified herself as the president of a political party on Wednesday bid farewell to Nigerians being repatriated from South Africa amid a wave of xenophobic attacks targeting foreign nationals in the country.
The woman, who gave her name as Thabile Sibeko and described herself as president of the Inizwe Nathi Party, spoke to newsmen at the airport in South Africa.
This is as the first batch of 262 Nigerians — mostly women and children — landed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos on Thursday morning following escalating anti-immigrant violence.
“I’m here to bid farewell to Nigeria, to make sure that they are leaving our country and to say to them bye-bye, Nigeria. Thank you for all you contributed to our country.
“We did not appreciate the wrongs that you have done, and we hope that you have learned a lesson, and we want to encourage them when they go to other countries, they must take care of other countries,” she said.
She alleged that Nigerians were responsible for drug-related problems in South Africa, saying: “Today we’ve got zombies in our streets as our children because of them, and that has cut deep in our hearts and that has made us to resent them with all that we have and we hope that they take a journey safe next time they come they know South Africa loves its people and its country.”
Sibeko, however, drew a distinction between Nigerians and other foreign nationals, saying “to others we say thank you for being here, especially those who took care of our country,” while insisting that “Nigeria is horrible, these people are horrible.”
“They’ve killed our children with drugs, and that is the reason why we are so strong on Nigeria because of their behaviour,” she said.
It could not be independently verified that the Inizwe Nathi Party is a registered political party in South Africa.
A search of publicly available records, including South Africa’s Electoral Commission database, returned no results for the party.
The repatriation came as anti-foreigner violence convulsed South Africa for weeks, with gangs armed with sticks, whips and shields marching through parts of the country and demanding that undocumented foreigners leave by June 30.
A second flight carrying the remaining Nigerians from a group of 586 processed for repatriation is scheduled to depart on June 15.
South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, described the exercise as routine immigration enforcement, saying deportations had increased by 46 per cent over the past two years.
Nigerian officials, however, maintained that the returnees were fleeing xenophobic attacks.
Over 1,000 Nigerians had registered for voluntary return, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
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