Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba said that President Cyril Ramaphosa didn’t need to apologise for the xenophobic unrest. He said, “nothing to apologise for.”
South Africa apologised to African countries for the recent spate and surge of xenophobic attacks which flooded most parts of Johannesburg earlier this month.
While President Cyril Ramaphosa is apologising to African nations for the recent xenophobic attacks in SA, mayor of Johannesburg Mashaba opposes what Ramaphosa did.
This comes a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa gave an apology at former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe’s funeral in Harare on Saturday.
“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,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa assigned a team of special envoys to visit Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, DRC and Zambia to deliver a message of solidarity for him regarding the violence which exploded in some parts of South Africa.
On Monday Energy Minister Jeff Radebe, on behalf of President Ramaphosa, apologised for the attacks to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja.
In his interview on CNBC Africa, Mashaba said there was nothing to apologise for. He stated that he did not regard the xenophobic attacks as an incident, adding that they were “bound to happen”.
“There is nothing to apologise for. We have a responsibility to get the president and home affairs to do something. What would anyone want me to apologise for?
“The country owes an official apology to the million unemployed South Africans who are today without jobs as a result of billions of counterfeit goods being brought illegally into the country, killing local manufacturing.”
In the same interview, Mashaba said, although he wouldn’t apologise, he was not xenophobic, saying he called on people of the world to come to South Africa. “We welcome people of the world to come to South Africa. How can that be xenophobic?
“What I want is the rule of law,” he added. “For me, people who are advocating for lawlessness are xenophobic because they encourage chaos.”
Daily Afrika reported earlier on that despite reprisal attacks in other African countries, for instance, Nigeria, Zambia and DRC, most those killed during the attacks had been South Africans.
Johannesburg and surrounding areas were rocked by a series of deadly attacks on foreigners in recent weeks, with many directed against Nigerian-owned businesses and properties.
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