President of South Africa, Mr. Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, has condemned the recent spate of violence in South Africa that has targeted Nigerians and other migrants.
Over 50 shops, mostly owned by Nigerians, were looted and burnt in the Johannesburg and Pretoria suburbs in three days, as locals chanted pro-xenophobic songs and bayed for blood.
In the last hour, the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Bobby Monroe, has been summoned by the Nigerian federal government for explanations.
Ramaphosa says attacks of businesses of foreign nationals in South Africa is “totally unacceptable and is something we cannot allow to happen in South Africa”.
He adds that the attacks are “against the ethos that we as South Africans espouse and there can be no justification whatsoever. When South Africans attack foreign nationals here, they should also know that fellow South Africans can be attacked in other countries.
“We are a country that is completely committed against xenophobia. We do not allow and cannot tolerate attacks of people from other countries or other African countries.
“These attacks are completely against the rule of law.
"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”, President Ramaphosa adds.
The South African leader admits that the violence is now “mutating and representing themselves in different forms that we do not want to see in South Africa.
“We want this to stop and I want this to stop immediately. We need to act in a way where we show respect to people from other countries and show them that they are welcome to be in our country”.
President Buhari has dispatched a Special Envoy to President Ramaphosa for a firsthand appraisal of the situation.
“The Special Envoy is expected to arrive in Pretoria latest Thursday, September 5, 2019”, the Nigerian presidency announced.