Xenophobia: We are an angry nation - South Africa’s defence minister (video)
- Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said it will be difficult to prevent attack against foreign nationals
- The South African defence minister said criminal elements were behind the attacks
- The minister described South Africa as an angry nation, adding that it wasn’t the first time attack against foreign national have occurred
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula who is the South African minister of defence has said that it will be difficult to prevent the attack against foreign national because they were planned by criminals.
There have been reported xenophobic attacks in South Africa particularly against Nigerians.
The minister of defence in an interview with eNCA, a local television channel, said South Africa is an angry nation.
She said: “The reality is that we have an angry nation. What’s happening can never be prevented by any government.
“People are saying some heads of state decided not to attend the World Economic Forum; we should be talking about why this whole thing is coinciding with that.”
Mapisa-Nqakula said it wasn’t the first time attack against foreign national have occurred and that some criminal elements were behind it.
She said: “People are saying it is xenophobic attacks but it is not the first time, we have had them in the past.
“We have criminals that have read the situation and are aware that we have challenges right now.
“We have talked on the issues of high rate of unemployment, of some foreign nationals who are not conducting themselves in an appropriate manner as we would expect, those breaking the bylaws of the country, and you now have criminal elements who have decided that we are going to use all of those things to find reasons to attack people.
“It is unfortunate and should not happen. The reality is that we need to have a serious dialogue about what is happening and we must take responsibility. The reality is that we are an angry nation and we must talk about it.”
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Meanwhile, the chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, disclosed that 640 Nigerians in South Africa have voluntarily registered to return home following the xenophobic attacks in the country.
Dabiri-Erewa who disclosed this after a closed door meeting with the Senate committee on Diaspora and non-governmental organisations in Abuja on Monday, September 9 said that the volunteers would arrive in Nigeria in a couple of days.
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