Schreiber warns against ‘weaponising’ immigration after ‘Igbo king’ row

Following two weeks of uproar and protest over the alleged installation of Solomon Eziko as ‘Igwe Ndigbo’ (Igbo King of East London), home affairs minister Leon Schreiber says that despite the ‘coronation’ being disrespectful, he does not condone violence.

This comes after cabinet dismissed the event as a ‘kindergarten gimmick’ with no legal standing.

Speaking to Sowetan at the DA’s Federal Congress in Midrand on Saturday, Schreiber said the coronation is something the country should never tolerate as it is disrespectful.

“It’s a basic principle of respect, and actually just having that respect for other people’s countries. So it’s not even a legal question, it’s something that we should all do when we go abroad as South Africans,” he said.

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Schreiber said there should be respect for the values and morals of the country one visits.

“But when we go abroad, we understand that we are in someone else’s country, and we have to respect the customs and, more importantly, the rules that people have in those countries. So I would never want South Africa to be a country that is associated with disrespecting anyone else,” he said.

“At the same time, we cannot tolerate violence.”

He added that such incidents should not be politicised.

“We can never have a situation where we take something that we are rightly aggrieved about, and then it gets weaponised. You suddenly start seeing political T-shirts showing up, and then it becomes something dangerous where ... all of us lose at the end of the day,” Schreiber said.

So I have had instances where people say, ‘You should take action against this person because of what they said.’... we never become like some other places where you get punished for holding a particular political view. I don’t think that is correct

—  Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber

Following such an incident, three Nigerian nationals were denied entry and deported at OR Tambo International Airport on April 5 after being flagged on a watchlist for insulting social media posts about the government.

Though they held valid visas, authorities allegedly exercised their legal discretion to refuse entry because the individuals could not adequately explain or substantiate their derogatory online remarks during secondary screening.

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However, Schreiber said even though he was not aware of the incident, the system should not be weaponised for political purposes.

“We must be very upfront about that, because once you start using immigration, as well as civic services, as a weapon against people that you don’t agree with, we go down a very dangerous slippery slope.

“So I have had instances where people say, ‘You should take action against this person because of what they said.’... we never become like some other places where you get punished for holding a particular political view. I don’t think that is correct,” he said.

He added that it’s different when one breaks the law.

“It’s different if you break immigration law. If you break anything in our legal framework, then we must support and take the action that is required,” Schreiber said.

“But purely on the basis of someone holding an opinion or saying things, including about the minister that may be lies, dangerous, or inciteful, whatever the case may be, that cannot be the basis for us to weaponise our systems. Because then it becomes arbitrary and that’s a dangerous country to live in.”