‘Our wives, children are threatened in South Africa’

Mr. Chicaodili Nwanedo is the chairman of Nigerian Union in North West Province (Rustenburg), South Africa. In this interview with JULIANA FRANCIS, he speaks on the 14 Nigerians who were arrested in his province since January and how their wives are coping. He also reveals the threat hanging over Nigerians and their families in South Africa. Excepts:


Tell us the condition of the 14 Nigerians arrested and detained since January They were taken to court last week, and after the court appearance, they went back to custody. They were charged with public violence.

The judge said that he didn’t find any offence that the men committed that was so severe that would warrant them being incarcerated for so long. The judge moved the case from the higher court to the lower. The charge was changed to illegal gathering.
They are going back to court on 27th of this month. The reason the court is prolonging these appearances is because there is a group of people that doesn’t want Nigerians in the community. Whenever there is a court case, they would assemble everywhere; as many as 500.
I feel the judge and judiciary are afraid of releasing our people because anxiety on how the group would react. Are you saying this group hangs around the court, waiting to hear the verdict of the court? Yes! Some of them go into the court, listen and come out to feed information to those outside.
The action of those outside will be based on what is happening inside the court. These 14 Nigerians, who are they and how are their families coping? It has been terrible for their families, as well as Nigerian communities in South Africa. Some of them were in detention and their wives had babies.

Some of them had not seen their babies. Although they were not denied people paying them visits in custody. But the truth is that these men are bread winners. They had businesses and some of their businesses had collapsed because of the long incarceration. Nobody is taking care of those businesses.
Some of their wives come to ask us for financial help. So, the situation is affecting everybody. Give us a picture of what Nigerians are going through in South Africa. The war zone is better than what Nigerians are going through in this part of South Africa.
Many of us had thought of leaving, but we have our assets here. Many Nigerians prefer to stay indoors, rather than step outside, so as not to get killed. This is not good for them. That would make many of them not to progress.

Some of us married South African women. Our women, children and wives are now being threatened and accused of bringing us to South Africa. Our wives and children are being threatened. I wouldn’t lie to you.
I married a South African woman and she goes to Nigeria every time. The truth is that as a man, if you are uncomfortable, your wife and family members wouldn’t be alright. These people know these women as our wives; they are threatening to face them; that they were the ones that brought their husbands to South Africa. What do you think is the solution to stop the killings and protect the women and children? Let me start with our government.
When they hear what I want to say, they might castrate me, but I don’t care. To tell you the truth from the depth of my heart, our government is not doing anything. Our government should have been pressuring the South African government for a better result and protection of Nigerians, but instead, our government is fighting the Nigerian Union in South Africa.

They are perturbed that the union here is stronger than our consulate here. In this country, if you don’t have a lawyer, you are in trouble. Even in the case of the 14 detained Nigerians, government should have got a lawyer for them.
Rather, Nigerians in South Africa contributed money to get a lawyer. The South African people see every dark skinned man as a Nigerian. But we have many citizens of other African countries here. Most of the bad Nigerians have run away, but the innocent ones, doing legitimate businesses here are the ones bearing the brunt of the issue. Our embassy should start meeting with South African embassies. They should rub minds and discuss. We don’t want to start fighting our host country.
Nigerian government should go into South African communities to speak with Nigerians and find out what they are going through. Do you have an idea the number of Nigerians in South African prisons? A lot of things are happening here. Many Nigerians are in prison here in South Africa.
In my community alone, about 42 and more Nigerians are in prison. We don’t know many of them. It’s only when such a person has a problem that we would get to know that such a person is in South Africa. They don’t come to meetings. We have a Nigerian Union meeting; they don’t want to identify with us and we can’t force them. They have rights of association.