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| South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor |
South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor acknowledged on Thursday that prejudice against people from other African countries was one of the causes behind deadly attacks on foreign-owned businesses, a day after Pretoria was forced to shut its embassy in Nigeria over threats of retaliatory violence.
At least five Africans have been killed in attacks on foreigners in South Africa this week.
On Wednesday South African companies MTN, and Shoprite closed stores in Nigeria after retaliatory attacks in one of the store.
Pandor said the government decided to temporarily close the embassy in Nigeria for security reasons after a protest march was planned there and threats of violence were received.
In an interview on the sidelines of a continental economic conference in Cape Town, Pandor said South Africa was in constant contact with Nigerian authorities and was also working to restore calm in areas affected by the violence.
“There is an Afrophobia we are sensing that exists, there is resentment and we need to address that,” Pandor said.
“There is targeting of Africans from other parts of Africa, we can’t deny that. But, there is also criminality … because a lot of this is accompanied by theft,” she said, describing the attacks as a complex phenomenon whose root causes were not easy to define.
The National Association of Nigerians (NANS) yesterday held a peaceful protest in Ekiti State, calling on Nigerians to stop patronising businesses owned by South Africans.
The protest was done in conjunction with the National Coalition for Yoruba Youth and Students.
The students protested from Ijigbo to the popular Fajuyi Park, which hindered the free flow of vehicles on Ijigbo- Basiri highway for over an hour.
The students carried placards of various inscriptions against the South African government over the persistent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.
Leaders of the protest, Sunday Ashefon and Ojo Raymond, who addressed the crowd, said the protest was to warn South Africans to show that students would not tolerate the violence against Nigerians living in South Africa.
Raymond, who is Vice Chairman of NANS/JCC Ekiti zone, expressed concern over the killings of Nigerians, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the senseless carnage with immediate effect.
He advised Nigerian consumers that they should move over to alternative network providers in the country.
“You can’t be killing Nigerians and be expecting patronage for their businesses. Nigerians remain the major consumers of South African Companies’ products, is this the best way to pay us back?” he said.
Ashefon called for the immediate release of the 36 persons arrested during a similar anti-xenophobic protest in Lagos.
He declared that the trend was unacceptable to the youths in Nigeria, saying that South African police did not deem it fit to curb the menace, which he said signposted compromise and tacit support for crimes.
The Youth leader said: “Nigerians in South Africa deserved to be treated with dignity, respect, freedom and mostly be protected from further provocation, looting and killings.
“The Protest against Xenophobic attacks in South Africa by various organizations across Africa has continued to linger while citizens are expecting the authority to arrest the situation. This is the best they can do under this situation.”
