Xenophobia: Thousands of South Africans troop out to ask Nigeria for forgiveness

Thousands of South Africans have emerged in a peaceful demonstration to apologize to Nigeria and other African countries over xenophobic attacks.

After citizens of Nigeria and other African countries were attacked by citizens of South Africa and there were murders, looting of companies owned by foreigners in their country.

We recall that the President of South Africa, Ramphosa, who was in Zimbabwe to pay tribute to the late Robert Mugabe, also apologized to the citizens of the country and of Africa in general for the xenophobic attacks by South Africans against black foreigners.

“Mugabe was a friend of the ANC, a friend of the people of SA, who stood by us during our darkest hour and was unwavering [in] support when our people were suffering under the yolk of apartheid,” Ramaphosa said to booes and jeers.

Ramaphosa told the crowd he understood their reaction, and offered an apology and declaring that South Africa was open to all African nations.

“In the past two weeks, we as South Africans have been going through a challenging period. We have had acts of violence, some of which [were] directed at nationals of other countries. This has led to the deaths of some nationals from other countries, but the majority were South Africans,” he said.

“I stand before you as a fellow African to express my regret and apologise for what has happened in our country. What has happened in South Africa goes against the principles of
the unity of the African people that presidents Mugabe, Mandela, Tambo and the great leaders of our continent stood for

“I stand before you fellow Zimbabweans and Africans, we are working very hard to teach South Africans to embrace people of all countries. I would like to thank you for the support that you offered us as South Africans at this difficult time.

“I want to say here today, South Africans are not xenophobic, not against nationals from other countries, we welcome people from other countries. We are working very hard and we are going to promote social cohesion … we want to embrace the spirit of unity that Mugabe worked for throughout his life.”

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