Ambassdor Bobby Moroe, South Africa’s Acting High Commissioner to Nigeria said on Monday that both countries were working progressively toward adopting an Early Warning Mechanism aimed at tackling xenophobia.
The South African envoy made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
EWM is a strategy involving technology, associated policies and procedures designed to predict and mitigate the harm of natural and human-initiated disasters and other undesirable events, in this case, xenophobia.
According to him, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s the Special Envoy, Jeff Radebe and Special Advisor, Dr Khulu Mbatha, have arrived in Nigeria to deliver a message on the issue to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said: “They will deliver a special message to President Buhari from President Ramaphosa; their visit to Nigeria reaffirms the longstanding relations between South Africa and Nigeria.
“The visit also seeks to cement these relations further ahead of the state visit to South Africa by President Buhari on October 3.
“We look forward to fruitful discussions between the special envoy and President Buhari.
“The EWM is a progressive initiative by both countries to deal with the challenges we face.
“It remains work in progress and we hope that it will be finalised at a mutually convenient time.”
He expressed the hope that the aides’ visit would further strengthen the already strong historical relationship between the two countries dating back to the era of apartheid.
Moroe told NAN that the envoys would visit Niger Republic, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia with a view to ensuring that the relations between them and South Africa remained strong.
Moroe quoted Ramaphosa as saying “South Africa has been home to foreign nationals even before the end of apartheid”.
He added: “We are a hospitable and a peace-loving nation which has for many years fully integrated people from different countries within communities.
“Our government continues to condemn attacks on foreign nationals and recommits to work with law enforcement agencies to bring all perpetrators to book, regardless of nationality.
“This includes South African nationals.
“To this end, the relations between Nigeria and South Africa remains strong and shall remain so for many more years to come.
“May peace reign between both countries.”
