Tue 03 September 2019:
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned a wave of looting and violence that has mostly targeted foreign nationals.
“There can be no justification for any South African to attack people from other countries,” he said on Tuesday.
Dozens of people were arrested in Johannesburg on Monday. At least five people have been killed in the unrest.
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. pic.twitter.com/sizZkwIyPO
— Cyril Ramaphosa ?? (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 3, 2019
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. pic.twitter.com/StGyNlhV1q
— Cyril Ramaphosa ?? (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 3, 2019
Other African governments have issued warnings to their citizens over the violence.
Attacks on businesses run by “foreign nationals is something totally unacceptable, something that we cannot allow to happen in South Africa,” Mr Ramaphosa said in a video posted to Twitter.
“I want it to stop immediately,” he added.
Separately, the African Union (AU) issued a statement condemning the “despicable acts” of violence “in the strongest terms”.
Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades in an attempt to quell the unrest on Monday. The surge in violence also saw mobs loot shops, torch vehicles, and target lorries that were being driven by foreign nationals.
Violence continued on Tuesday in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township.
Some angry residents in the city are calling on the government to deport undocumented migrants, the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko says.
But one Nigerian businessman, whose shop was targeted by looters, told the BBC that foreign nationals in South Africa were subjected to “a lot of allegations [and] lies”.
“This is not a criminal attack. This is a [xenophobic] attack,” he said.
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