It was a fact-finding visit for members of the Central Executive Council (CEC) of Nigerian Community Western Cape (NCWC) with senior South African immigration expert Rod Maxwell in his office at the Home Affairs building on Barrack Street in Cape Town. The mission embarked upon by Acting President NCWC Cosmos Echie, PRO NCWC Mrs ‘Ebiere Joseph-Akwunwa and Provost NCWC Hon. Iyiola Aremu was to learn how the recent xenophobic issues could be related with immigration issues that diaspora Nigerians face in the Western Cape and South Africa at large. The immigration guru agrees that irregularities in the South African immigration services could have a role to play in the recent Xenophobia crisis in the country looking at the level of desperation with which members of some immigrant communities obtain documents in order to remain in a country with its own employment and economic survival challenges to deal with. From the findings, when documents are obtained fraudulently to remain in the republic by those not having the necessary immigration skills to add value to the economy then the friction for survival could be the bait that unskilled locals use to stage their attacks on unskilled immigrants perceived to be competing on the same survival scale with them.
Photo Credits: NCWC News