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.

Sincerely
Adebisi Adegbite Kuforiji