President Buhari’s envoy to South Africa returned yesterday and has briefed the presidency about the state of affairs concerning the xenophobia related attacks on Nigerians in the Amazulu nation. The report had incited the president to order the evacuation of Nigerians willing to leave South Africa with the number of respondents reaching 640 as at yesterday.
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In a new development, the South African defence minister, Nosiviwe Mapika-Nqakula in an interview eNCA a local television channel in SA said,
The reality is that we have an angry nation. What’s happening could not have been prevented by any government.
People are saying it’s xenophobia but it’s not the first time we’ve 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 about the 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 discussion about what is happening and we must take responsibility. The reality is that we are an angry nation and we must talk about it.