While the world is coming together to fight racial discrimination and other prejudices, South Africans seem to be walking in the opposite direction. They have begun trending a very telling and inciting hashtag, #NigeriansMustFall on twitter demanding that Nigerians in their country leave.
The hashtag goes to show that while South Africans support the Black Lives Matter movement on social media, that sentiment may not extend towards other Africans on their soil.
Recently, a video of an unclad South African girl dancing while some Nigerian boys watched sparked off to outrage on South African Twitter.
Warning, explicit content.
This video is the reason why #NigeriansMustFall is trending, South Africans on twitter claims the lady in this video was drugged by the “Nigerians” in this video.pic.twitter.com/OMJ0cLnkZt
— Biyi The Plug 🔌 (@BiyiThePlug) June 13, 2020
According to them, the Nigerians drugged the said girl and made a video of her without her consent. From indications, the twerking girl was an s*x worker. This, however, did not stop South Africans from trending #NigeriansMustFall. Under the trend were several inciteful comments insisting Nigerians leave their borders.
See some of the tweets below
If Chasing away Nigerian Drug Lords makes me Xenophobic , LET IT BE #NigeriansMustFall pic.twitter.com/zTTvGGHak4
— ༺Chaotic༻ (@Chaotic__SA) June 13, 2020
I watched the #Parklands video & it the most painful evil doing, an African can do to another African. If African Unity means we must let our sisters become s*x slaves to Nigerians then f**k this whole bullshit thing of Unity we won’t surrender our Country #NigeriansMustFall pic.twitter.com/aGwUs0eRs8
— Mfundoyakhe Shezi 🇿🇦 (@Mfundoyakhe_S) June 12, 2020
Ladies stop chasing after money. We may say #NigeriansMustFall but some of you love money to a point where you become prostitutes or end up dating Nigerians#NigeriansMustFall pic.twitter.com/X1EPSJddhW
— Tiffany (@MetjahTebogo) June 12, 2020
I am a big fan of justice. Attack me if you like but Nigerians should go home🤞🤞#Parklands#NigeriansMustFall pic.twitter.com/0OKqb4TtIE
— Tiffany (@MetjahTebogo) June 12, 2020
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Nigerians have however pointed out that the dancing lady was not drugged and was obviously doing so of her own free will
I don’t understand why they are blaming the guys for this video!
All I see is an adult girl displaying her stupidity coz she wants too.
She doesn’t look drunk neither does he look drugged 🤷🏽♀️#NigeriansMustFall pic.twitter.com/U7j5qbadaH— Enugu wigmaker (@Chioma_Alexa) June 13, 2020
But South Africans are having none of it. Some have gone as far to publishing tweets that encourage their citizens to take to the streets and drive out foreign nationals
#NigeriansMustFall is just another Twitter trend. Cancel culture is just virtual in SA and nothing happens in reality. Most of black Twitter is just keyboard warriors who wouldn’t go on the streets and stand for what they tweet
— Tau ya Morei🇿🇦 (@Tevin8r) June 12, 2020
Let’s change the hashtag to #NigeriansMustGo because THEY MUST GO NOW! The whole world is tired of these people only South Africa tolerates them #NigeriansMustFall
— Gobetse 🇿🇦 (@G_Manchidi) June 12, 2020
However, some South Africans are speaking against the obvious and blatant xenophobia their countrymen are displaying
We must not be tired to distance our selves from reactionary & openly xenophobic content: the #NigeriansMustFall hashtag is Afro-phobic. All Africans of conscience must speak out against it. Nigerians are blacks, Africans like is. We are all Nigerian. #NigerianLivesMatter
— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) June 13, 2020
#NigeriansMustFall is the most xenophobic s**t I have woken up to on this App pic.twitter.com/Jz40kUxgEw
— Tshediso (@TshedisoJunior) June 13, 2020
Women are killed everyday by their partners in SA and hashtags crying for their justice do not make waves but at the mention of Nigerians, SA men get turgid penises and begin to trend #Nigeriansmustfall on behalf of an adult woman who was paid money to entertain Nigerian men pic.twitter.com/dtHuxmScRR
— My tweets are underrated (@Undone_rice) June 13, 2020
Recall that in September 2019, there was another uprising of South Africans against Nigerians and other foreign nationals. Several videos of South Africans looting and setting ablaze shops of other Africans were rife on the internet. Some Nigerians and other nationals also lost their lives. Furthermore, countries including Nigeria had to evacuate their nationals from the country.
With this new trend and the violent comments underneath, can it be deduced that this is the current disposition of South Africans? Should we hold our breaths for yet another spate of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other foreign nationals in South Africa?
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