The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa has asked fellow African countries for forgiveness over the xenophobic attacks that took place in his country in the last two weeks. President Ramaphosa who spoke on this over the weekend during the state funeral for late President Robert Mugabe in Harare, Zimbabwe is said to have engaged in people diplomacy to put the matter to rest. Also there has been series of peaceful protests by South Africans across different cities against xenophobia in their country.

Xenophobic attack on Africans in South Africa

The South African government has sent out high-ranking emissaries to different African countries to assure them that their citizens are welcome in his country, despite the wave of xenophobic violence earlier this month. The mission, led by former Minister Jeff Radeba, left South Africa over the weekend scheduled to visit Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, the president announced on today. Our sources in Abuja say that the South African delegation is already in Nigeria. In an unprecedented move, hundreds of migrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe and Mozambique had fled from South Africa recently while Nigeria air lifted 600 of its citizens back home after they were targeted in the violence.

It could be recalled that President Cyril Ramaphosa had his speech at the state funeral of late President Robert Mugabe severally disrupted with boos and jeers from the crowd over the xenophobic attacks on African nationals in South Africa. President Ramaphosa punctuated his speech with an apology saying “I stand before you as a fellow African to express my regret and apologise for what has happened in our country”, a gesture the crowd refused to accept. His comments were met with cheers and blasts of air horns from the crowd.

The South African business leaders earlier warned that the fallout from the attacks has had a negative impact on businesses and the country’s statistics agency said that business confidence is at its lowest in the last 30 years, a sign that the economy is feeling the heat of the negative publicity. South Africa, the continent’s second largest economy, is a major destination for other African migrants. But they are often targeted by some locals who blame them for a lack of jobs.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.