Hold S’African elites accountable for attacks on foreigners

A former Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Kayode Oladele, has said that South African elites should be held accountable to the xenophobic attacks on innocent foreigners in the country. Oladele said that South African elites failed to take the conscious step to educate the youths, who were born after the struggle against apartheid, on the sacrifices and contributions made by Africans to the liberation of the country from the claws of racial discrimination. Oladele who is the Federal Lawmaker elect for the Yewa (Egbado) North/Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency in Ogun State Yewa (Egbado) North/ Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency in Ogun State, said the deliberate targeting of Nigerians for attack by the South African mobs was unbelievable and unfortunate. He called on the South African authorities to ensure the prosecution of all those who participated in the violence and killings in the country. He said that Nigeria which was a member of the frontline states spent about $61 billion in the fight against apartheid and its international backers from 1960 to 1994 and gave scholarships to several South African students to study in Nigerian universities during the period. He said, “In all of this however, the whole blame must therefore be placed on the political elites of South Africa who have refused to consciously de- racialize South African educational curriculum and properly educate the people of South Africa, particularly the youths who were born after the struggle in 1994 on the true contribution of the rest of Africa, in the liberation of South Africa through the print and electronic media including public educational institutions.” He recalled that Nigeria was so committed to the struggle against apartheid that the country rejected the inducement from the apartheid regime which seconded the motion to admit the country into the United Nations on independence in 1960. He said Nigeria responded to the regime’s gesture by championing the move to expel the apartheid South Africa from the UN and other international organisations. He said there was need to educate the South African mobs on roles of the Nigerian worker who donated their salaries to the Southern African Relief Fund and the Nigeria’s National Committee for Action against Apartheid.