Protests against Nigerians and foreign nationals are trending in South Africa social media, following demonstrations held on Wednesday, September 23 against alleged human trafficking and other criminal activities of some immigrants, particularly Nigerians.

Angry protesters on Wednesday marched from Church Square in Pretoria to the Nigerian Embassy as they decried human trafficking and undocumented foreign nationals in the country.

The demonstrators accused Nigerian and Zimbabwean nationals of committing the crimes. 

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The march to the Nigerian Embassy trended on social media with the hashtags: #23SeptemberCleanSA and #PutSouthAfricansFirst, sparking a conversation about the ongoing protests against immigrants in South Africa.

Although the spokesperson for the protest said other nationals engage in criminal activities in South Africa, he claimed that majority of the crimes are committed by Nigerians.

During his speech, he said Nigerians could stay if... but he was booed by the other protesters which showed they actually preferred to send Nigerians packing.

According to him, a lot of Nigerians in the country are illegal immigrants, saying “they use our people for prostitution”

Responding to this, the Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Kabiru Bala, said that he would not allow Nigerians to be profiled as criminals in the country.

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Bala, after receiving the memorandum and accusations by the protesters, said it was unfair as only countries from West Africa were targeted during the protest.

He said: “I am telling you that we don’t accept the profiling of Nigerians as criminals. I will never accept the situation where you will tell me all Nigerians are criminals in this country. That is unacceptable, I will never accept it.”

Meanwhile, cyber forensic investigators, human rights groups and foreign national associations had warned against growing dangers from the spread of xenophobic rhetoric on social media.

The cyber researchers from the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) have claimed that they have uncovered the handler behind the anti-immigrant Twitter account identified as @uLerato_pillay, according to TimeLIVE.

South Africa, the continent’s second-biggest economy, has a history of violence against foreign nationals, particularly other Africans.

In May 2008, at least 62 people died, several hundred injured, voluntary deportation of immigrants to home countries, destruction of immigrant-owned properties happened as a result of the xenophobic riots that started near Johannesburg.

South Africans attacked migrants from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe

Likewise, in April 2015, seven people were killed in similar protests in the country.

During the attacks, the citizens were saying that foreigners should “go back to their countries”.

In September 2019 at least 10 people were killed, including two foreigners (excluding Nigerians) in the violence. Dozens of shops were destroyed or looted around Johannesburg, which triggered angry demonstrations in Several African countries, including Nigeria.

Nigerian Government repatriated over 600 of its citizens from South Africa following the wave of xenophobic attacks.

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The incident caused the South African Government to temporarily shut diplomatic missions in Nigeria following the wake of attacks on foreign-owned stores in the Southern African country.

However, the SA Government apologized to Nigeria over the attack, saying “the incident does not represent what they (South Africans) stand for,”, adding that SA police would “leave no stone unturned” in bringing those involved to justice.

South Africa’s high unemployment rate, weak economic growth and spike in crime are often blamed on the foreign nationals staying in the country. 

Report says communities in Thokoza, south of Johannesburg, forcefully evicted foreign nationals from their homes and burnt their possessions in the street on July 30, 2020,