How South African Immigration Officials Hate On Nigerians...

A travel agent narrates how her client
was disrespected, illegally held in a
cell and deported from South Africa
after arriving the country yesterday
April 18th...because according to SA
immigration, the man hadn't paid for
his hotel reservation. And we've all
heard the stories of how Nigerians
and their businesses are attacked in
the country. What is going on? Read
what she wrote below...
"One of my biggest clients, Michael
Olusegun Osatuyi decided to spend a
weekend break during the Easter
period in South Africa to get away
from the stress of his job for a while.
"He purchased a South African
Airways Business Class ticket worth
over N500,000 for this purpose and
proceeded to set out on Thursday,
April 17th 2014. As with all trips
abroad he had previously made, he
made a hotel reservation via
booking.com. When he arrived the
Lagos airport, he was informed he
could not board the flight unless the
reservation had been paid for. This
was promptly done on the hotel
website, Crowne Plaza Rosebank
Johannesburg and the card was pre-
authorised after which he was allowed
to board the flight.
The first question is: when citizens of
other countries travel to South Africa,
are they forced to pay for their stay
before they arrive the hotel premises?
Are they denied boarding even when
they have confirmed reservations
booked with their debit/credit card
details? In spite of this, Mr. Osatuyi
paid and boarded.
When he arrived Johannesburg at
5.00am South African time on Friday,
the 18th, the immigration officer
called the hotel and reached a
member of staff that saw the
cancelled booking.com reservation
and said the reservation had not been
paid for.
My client promptly called me and I in
turn called Crowne Plaza and spoke to
a professional gentleman called
Mondli who sent me the proof of
payment and a copy of the
reservation. I sent them to Mr.
Osatuyi, who by this time had his
phones seized from him by the
immigration officials and locked up in
a common cell with the key taken
away like a criminal!!!
When I could no longer reach Mr.
Osatuyi, I called various numbers of
the South African immigration until I
reached the woman in charge of the
case. To say she was hostile would be
an understatement. She refused to
give her name but she picked up the
phone number +27115718734 four
times between the hours of 7:14 and
8:20 South African time so she can
easily be traced. I explained that the
hotel employee she spoke to had
referred to the booking.com
reservation and that she should call
the hotel again to confirm that there
was indeed proof of payment. She
insisted that she can only call any
hotel once after which I asked the
Hotel Manager to call her which he
did. He later informed me that she
was extremely hostile and said she
had taken a decision that could not be
reversed and that Mr. Osatuyi had
been assigned to leave with the next
flight back to Lagos at 2:00pm.
Mr. Osatuyi was denied access to his
phones, a lawyer and consular staff
throughout his stay in that cell. He had
a business class ticket but was denied
access to the business lounge at the
airport until he boarded the flight.
This situation, in my opinion is
completely unacceptable! Even in
more advanced countries like the
United States and United Kingdom,
passengers are granted the right of
access and hotel reservations are paid
for on arrival at the hotel.
Why are Nigerians treated like trash in
South Africa? Mr. Osatuyi deserves an
unreserved apology from the South
African government because it is a
slap on the citizenry of this country
and we find it unacceptable that a
hard working person like himself
would be treated as a criminal
charged with an offence.
I also believe that if this trend
continues, we should be reciprocal in
our attitude towards South African
citizens when they arrive our shores.
Full payment of hotel accommodation
must be made before they board
flights to our esteemed country.
Enough is enough! Justice must be
served.