The Consulate General of Nigeria in Johannesburg says the October 22 attack on businesses owned by Nigerians in Witbank in the Mpumalamga district of South Africa was a criminal act and not xenophobic.
The Nigerian Consul General in Johannesburg, Godwin Adama, made the clarification in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
The consul general said that the attack, which occurred at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 22 was masterminded by taxi drivers under the guise of fighting crime.
Adama said that with the cooperation of the police the matter was resolved in less than an hour.
“We held a meeting with the police authorities and they led us to the place where the attack occurred.
“Although it happened in a different locality (from the previous one), we agreed to meet often to prevent reoccurrence.
“The police promised to invite the taxi drivers association and Nigerian Citizens Association in South Africa to a meeting to discuss and resolve issues amicably.
“There is no problem at the moment and we are monitoring the situation keenly and we have been able to reach a reasonable stage of agreement and help out.
“The government is doing everything here to fight crime. The locals take laws into their hands thinking that the police was not doing enough, which is what mostly leads to attack.
“People feel there is drug or human trafficking and security operatives are not meeting expectations, and so they take laws into their hands in order to fight crime, but it does not work that way.”
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