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Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa will meet on the sidelines of the ongoing African Export Import (Afrexim) bank Annual General Meeting in Abuja to discuss the killing of Nigerians and citizens of other African countries in South Africa.
President Ramaphosa of South Africa made this disclosure at the opening ceremony of the 25th anniversary and annual general meeting of Afreximbank in Abuja Wednesday
When confronted by a member of the audience on the spate of killing of Nigerians in South Africa, Ramaphosa said his government was already moving against South Africans who are attacking citizens of other counties living in the country.
Ramaphosa attributed the killings to unemployment in his country “as a reason why there was so much antagonism against foreigners.”
He however assured the Nigerian audience that “we are cracking the whip against those who are attacking citizens of other counties.”
Specifically, Ramaphosa explained that “we have been exposed to unsafe environment; criminality and we have historically had a number of challenges to this regard. We have also had a huge problem of unemployment and people have tended to react in a way were they want to safeguard their own interest and express their fears and concerns through xenophobic attacks on other people, and our government have been very clear and strong on this. We will not support anyone who seeks to attack anybody on the basis of their race, their origin or the way they look and we are very clear on that.”
Thereafter he stated that as part of his working visit to Nigeria, he would “be discussing issues relating to security and safety of Nigerians living in South Africa and vice versa with President Muhammadu Buhari.”
As part of the meeting, he said he was accompanied on the visit by his ministers of defense, security and energy.
According to him, “we will not support anyone attacking citizens from other counties. South Africa received a lot of support from Nigeria and others and we are also ready to provide support to them.”
His government he said wants “to see relationship between Nigeria and South Africa improve exponentially. From now, relations between Nigeria and South Africa will improve tremendously. This will be a major plank of discussion between President Buhari and myself during this visit.”
Speaking to the need for mutual coexistence among Africans on the continent, Ramaphosa while delivering the keynote address said “there is already a draft agreement on movement of people and once this is finally ratified, it will be an integral part of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to ease movement of persons in addition to goods.”
South African he said has become an oasis attracting people from all over the continent, and has exposed citizens to unsafe environments.
