BLACK LIVES ARE VERY CHEAP IN SOUTH AFRICA

Introduction

The diplomatic world is full of sensitivities and a lot of cruel bureaucratic red tape that depends on the economic power, military might, race, political clout, and the pure personal whims of the different countries. The fate of different individuals can depend on any one, some, or a combination of all these factors.

It is also on these grounds that some relatively very minor incidents can become big international, national, or local headlines; or, alternatively, some relatively very significant incidents can become non-issues not worthy of any internal, national, or local headlines.

It is unfortunate that the matter of the deaths of more than 80 or more than a 100 South Africans in Nigeria in September 2014 has become one of those very significant international incidents that has been treated as a non-issue to the displeasure of very few of the many "human rights activists" who would not hesitate to stand at the top of the highest mountains to criticize the post-apartheid South African government for any slightest issue which they deem as human rights violation.

Is it because the people who died in Nigeria are Black that most "human rights activists" are conspicuously silent?

It is interesting to note how many people and interest groups pick up the  campaigns for all sorts of issues and causes that are very remote to the immediate national interests of South Africa; and those people would even go to an extent of flooding our judicial system with litigation pertaining to human rights issues in remote countries; and most of those same people and interest groups are conspicuously silent on the matter of these 80 to more than 100 South Africans who died more than a month ago at TB Joshua's Synagogue Church of All Nations, in Nigeria.

Can you imagine the furore and noise which we would be hearing if it was the other way round; if many Nigerians had died in South Africa and the South African government had been perceived to be acting indifferently towards that human tragedy; some well-known human rights professors, bishops, opposition political parties, and politicians would be on the radio, television, and the print media every day criticizing the South African government for its perceived insensitivity and perceived human rights violations on this matter.

Let me now make my bold assertion, not just a hypothesis: Most of our "human rights activists" and many other "rent a picket mob" who fight any other cause that they are remotely related to, are not prepared to be heard voicing their displeasure on this matter because the majority of, if not all, the South Africans who died at TB Joshua's church in Nigeria are poor black South Africans.

The South African government is compromised here in that they cannot risk being heard to be criticizing the Nigerian government for insensitivity, lest they be accused of endangering the diplomatic relations with Nigeria. We all remember how angry the Nigerian government was when President Zuma first officially announced to the South African public that more than 67 South African lives had been lost at TB Joshua's church disaster.  The South African government has thus had to be very constrained in what they say about what is going on in Nigeria, while the bodies of South Africans are stuck in Nigeria because of the insensitivity of the Nigerian government towards the South African victims and their families.

Would The Nigerian Government have acted quicker and immediately had the victims been from the Western Countries or from the non-black Economic Power-houses?

The answer to this question is a simple YES; had these victims been from the USA, the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia, Russia, or any other economically powerful country outside the African continent, the Nigerian government would have ensured that those bodies are returned to their country /countries at the earliest possible time, definitely within a week after that church disaster.  Any perceived insensitivity or dragging of the feet by the Nigerian government would have become a serious United Nations agenda item.

It is also worth noting that there were marches to the South African parliament by people who were marching under the banner of "Bring Back Our Children", campaigning against the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian school children by Boko Haram; however, it is disappointing that we do not see the very same marchers campaigning for the speedy resolution of this TB Joshua church victims matter.

I was touched by the level of concern, anger, and frustration of Pastor Vusi Dube of the Ethekwini Community Church, who also happens to be an ANC Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature, who has now chosen not to follow the official South African government policy of "quiet diplomacy" on this matter.

It is reported in some KwaZulu-Natal based mass media that Dube and other locally based church groups have finally decided to mobilise the community and fight for the speedy resolution of this matter. This is a welcome move by this ANC member; but where are the other politicians on this matter? Where are the politicians who always make a meal out of our now regular Dalai Lama visa non-issue matter?

The Nigerian Government is acting childishly

Let me now conclude by asserting that the childish insensitive behaviour of the Nigerian government here is not at all surprising, even though the South African government is constrained from publicly conceding this.

The Nigerians always perceive their dealings with the South Africans as a competition, where they always have to show who holds the upper hand. Rewind to 1995 when our First President Nelson Mandela openly criticized the then Obacha regime for the Nigerian execution of the Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa; we all remember the venom that followed when South Africa publicly supported the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth for that Saro-Wiwa execution.

We all remember what happened when South African border gate authorities refused entry into South Africa by some very few Nigerians who did not have the yellow fever vaccination certificates; the Nigerian government retaliated by refusing entry to many South Africans on flimsy grounds; simply because they, the Nigerian authorities, did not want to accept the fact that Most of West Africa is a yellow fever area, and hence people from there must be subjected to compulsory yellow fever vaccination, whereas Southern Africa is not a yellow fever area, hence it should not be compulsory for South Africans to have yellow fever vaccination. The same can be said about the fact that every time there is any minor diplomatic tiff between South Africa and Nigeria, one would always hear of some direct threats against MTN-Nigeria by some people in Nigeria.

CONCLUSION

Is it not time the Nigerian government shows some compassion, and spare the victims of the TB Joshua church disaster some of the African continental bully-boy competitive behaviours, and speed up the repatriation of the bodies of South Africans back home?

Dr Bonke Dumisa is an Independent Economic Analyst, Advocate of the High Court, and a former university professor.

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