The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has apologized to Nigeria over the recent xenophobic attacks in that country. Ramaphosa had dispatched a special envoy to Nigeria over the incident.
The apology was delivered to President Muhammadu Buhari during a meeting on Monday, September 16, 2019.
Specifically, the apology was conveyed by a special envoy, Jeff Radebe.
The special envoy, Jeff Radebe, had arrived in Nigeria on Monday. Subsequently, he had held a meeting with Presidential Muhammadu Buhari.
The meeting was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ramaphosa had dispatched special envoys to Buhari and several African leaders. The move came in the aftermath of xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa.
The special envoys were expected to deliver messages of solidarity to several heads of state and governments.
The messages, which will go out across Africa, comes amid tensions and violence in the country.
This was contained in a statement issued by a spokesman for the SA government, Khusela Diko on Sunday, September 15. Further, the statement added that the special envoys are tasked with “reassuring fellow African countries that South Africa is committed to the ideals of pan-African unity and solidarity”.
The recent wave of xenophobic attacks saw violence against Nigerians and other African nationals in South Africa. In addition, businesses and properties of foreign nationals were looted and destroyed.
As a matter of fact, a number of Nigerians were affected in the incidents.
The development angered Nigerians who began to target South African-owned businesses in their home country. The reprisal attacks saw the likes of Shoprite and MTN, among others, suffer some losses in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, President Olusegun Obasanjo had urged the Nigerian government to report South Africa to the African Union.
