South African police invade Nigerian embassy.

If necessary steps are not taken, a disagreement over visa refusal to some South Africans in Johannesburg during the week may develop into a major diplomatic row between Nigeria and South Africa.

According to a South African newspaper, Saturday Star, some members of a local church had accused the Nigerian Consulate staff of demanding bribes from them before they could be granted visa to the country.

Although the Nigerian Consulate, according to the visa denial victims, hinged the refusal on its inability to verify that the Twelve Apostles Church in Christ to which the 68 members belonged was duly registered in Nigeria, the South Africans insisted that they were treated so because they did not give bribe.

They were said to be travelling to Nigeria to attend an annual prayer meeting of the church in Nigeria and that they had booked for air tickets and accommodation with a sum of R500, 000. They also claimed that their passports were returned with cancelled visas on them.

According to Saturday Star, a member of the church delegation, Thami Khanyile, said they were bluntly asked to pay the bribe before their visas were issued. She said a consulate official told them that staff had been sweating over 68 visas “for nothing.”

“When we stated that we were not willing to pay a bribe, the officials reacted angrily and proceeded to revoke the visas which had already been issued on our passports. They told us that the Nigerian church which we were visiting did not provide them with a genuine certificate that our church was registered. We saw this as a ploy to try and solicit bribe from us.

“We called the police to come to our rescue because they refused to hand our passports back.

“We wanted to open a case, but we were advised to take this through international relations,” Khanyile was quoted to have said.

However, reports had it that the arrival of heavily armed policemen from Bramley police station was to aggravate the drama as upon being denied access by consular officials, they attempted force entry and tried to scale the electric fence. The local newspaper also published CCTV camera pictures of the policemen arguing with security staff and officials of the embassy in their bid to gain entry into the premises.

Sources at the consular were quoted to have said the church members had tried to stage an “illegal sit in” at the consulate after they were told to return the next day with additional documents.

“Police ordered the guard on duty to open the gate and when he refused, they threatened to gain entry by force,” the source was quoted.

Another source was quoted: “They acted in violation of diplomatic protocols and will have to answer serious questions for invading Nigeria.”

However, the local paper reported that the spokesman for the Department of International Relations, Clayson Monyela, commented that the department would raise the issues through diplomatic channels with its counterpart.

Also, the spokesperson of the South African Police (SAPS), Captain Dennis Adriao, was quoted as saying that the organisation would investigate, “once official complaint” was received, adding that “the SAPS respects international diplomatic protocols and any violation of these protocols will be seen in serious light.”