Xenophobia: My country has no provision for compensation – South Africa minister

Naledi Pandor, South Africa minister of foreign affairs, says there is no provision for compensating those affected in the fresh attacks in the country. Speaking to Reuters, Pandor said her country’s laws do not have provision for such.

Last week, angry mob went on rampage in South Africa, targetting foreign nationals, including Nigerians. Adetola Olubajo, president of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, said Nigerians lost property worth millions of dollars in the xenophobic attacks.

In its response, the federal government summoned Bobby Moroe, South African high commissioner to Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari also sent a special envoy to Cyril Ramaphosa, his South African counterpart, to convey his displeasure over the attacks.

The federal government also pulled out of the ongoing World Economic Forum in South Africa and recalled its high commissioner to the country. It also demanded that its citizens involved in the attacks should be fully compensated.

“Full compensation has to be paid because as we have discovered from previous experience, a lot of these Nigerians loss their property and it is a long drawn out process and very often are not compensated for it. But on this occasion, the Nigerian government is going to fight for full compensation and hold the government of South Africa to count,” Geofrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, said at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

The South African high commission in Nigeria suspended operations on Thursday morning following attacks on MTN, Shoprite and some South Africa-owned businesses across Nigeria.

Commenting on this, Pandor said she was in touch with Nigerian authorities to try to restore calm. She also said efforts were in place to address the unrest in South Africa.
“There is an Afrophobia we are sensing that exists, there is resentment and we need to address that,” Reuters quoted Pandor to have said.