South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Tuesday, condemned the recent attack on Nigerians and other foreign nationals in the country.
Ramaphosa, in a tweet on his official Twitter page, said there is no justification for the attack on foreign nationals.
He was reacting the looting and burning of businesses and property belonging to foreigners in South Africa which began on Sunday.
He said, “I condemn the violence that has been spreading around a number of our provinces in the strongest terms. I’m convening the ministers in the security cluster today to make sure that we keep a close eye on these acts of wanton violence and find ways of stopping them.
”The people of our country want to live in harmony; whatever concerns or grievances we may have, we need to handle them in a democratic way.
”There can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries,” he added
Similarly, President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday expressed “deep concern,” over the attacks on Nigerian citizens and property in South Africa since August 29, 2019.
Following reports of the attack, Buhari despatched special envoy to his South African counterpart, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This was contained in a statement by Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
The terse statement reads: “Consequently, the President has instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, to summon the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria and get a brief on the situation; express Nigeria’s displeasure over the treatment of her citizens; and assurance of the safety of their lives and property.
“President Buhari has also despatched a Special Envoy to convey to President Cyril Ramaphosa his concerns and also interact with his South African counterpart on the situation.
“The Special Envoy is expected to arrive in Pretoria latest Thursday, September 5, 2019.”
However, South Africa’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Bobby Monroe, has denied reports of Xenophobic attacks in his country.
Monroe denied that the attacks in South Africa are xenophobic and targeted at Nigerians.
The Commissioner made the comments at a media briefing with Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry headed by Geoffery Onyeama.
He described the attacks as ‘sporadic acts of violence’ adding that businesses belonging to other South Africans were also affected in the violence.
The Federal Government had earlier summoned South Africa over the recent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Onyeama summoned the South African envoy after the recent xenophobic attacks.
