SA biting hand that fed it

MANDELA TAX: COUNTRY OWES HUGE DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO NIGERIA, SAYS ANGRY AUTHOR

- Citizen reporter

A leading Nigerian author has stepped into the angry debate about illegal immigrants in South Africa being forced to flee, saying South Africans owe a huge debt of gratitude to Nigeria, which was the major financial backer of the struggle against apartheid.

In a series of Facebook posts recently, Kio Amachree said: ‘‘There is a particular kind of ingratitude so spectacular it almost deserves a standing ovation.

‘‘SA, a country whose liberation was financed, in no small part, by Nigerian schoolchildren skipping lunch and Nigerian public servants surrendering 2% of their monthly pay, has decided the deadline it once gave apartheid is now the deadline it is giving us.’’

He said attacks on Nigerians and the recent wave of violence ‘‘are not the actions of a nation that remembers its debts. These are the actions of a nation that has been brainwashed into believing its liberators are its enemies.’’

Amachree said from 1960 to 1995, Nigeria alone, spent over $61 billion (R1 trillion at today’s exchange rate) to support the struggle – more than any other country in the world, according to the SA Institute of International Affairs.