RISE IN MOB JUSTICE
ADEKEYE ADEBAJO: Leaders’ ignorance feeds xenophobia
As a Nigerian who has lived in SA for more than 13 years, it is quite distressing having to write articles after periodic bouts of xenophobic attacks against African citizens. These attacks — against Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Malawians, Somalis, Ethiopians, Nigerians and Pakistanis — reportedly killed 350 foreign nationals between 2008 and 2015. Poor leadership, incompetent governance and a lack of conflict-resolution skills have all resulted in a deadly cocktail of Afrophobia. This time it was again the turn of the Nigerians, often stereotyped in the popular imagination, even by several academics, as drug-traffickers, who "steal" South African women. This despite the contributions of its citizens in sectors as varied as business, academia, media and the arts.In the recent attacks, people burned and looted scores of homes and businesses in Rosettenville, Mamelodi and Atteridgeville that they alleged were drug dens and brothels. The evidence was similar to the witch-hunts of the medi...
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