South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa says targeted killings of foreigners residing in his country are criminal and unacceptable.
He told journalists during his visit to Nigeria on Wednesday that the killings were not backed by the South African government.
Nigerians and other foreign nationals in South Africa have in the past suffered attacks from indigenous South Africans.
Last year about 100 people ransacked shops in Johannesburg looting various shops across other South African cities. Some foreigners were reported to have died following the incident.
Why the attacks
Ramaphosa says the killings are caused by high level of unemployment among the youth.
He also explained that other social factors associated with the apartheid era contributed to the anger among many black South Africans.
Poverty is still all pervasive in South Africa and all this emanates from our very said history of Apartheid misrule.
“There is still inequality in South Africa; a few people are extremely very rich and the majority of the people are very poor,” Ramaphosa said.
He added that “When we were involved in our struggle we said the South Africa that we are fighting for is the South Africa which will regard everyone who lives in South Africa on the basis of equality, respect for human rights.
And we said that South Africa belongs to all the people who live in it. When that (killings) happens I would like us to see that as acts of criminality which in the main affects many South Africans in various parts of our country.”
Fixing the problem
President Ramaphosa says his government is doing all it can to ensure that South Africa thrives for citizens.
That includes he says in bringing down crime rates by creating opportunities for young people.
“The criminality that we have is borne out of a number of factors. One of those is unemployment amongst a number of our people.
Twenty seven per cent of South Africans are unemployed which amounts to about nine million and most of these are young people” he added.
Ramaphosa took over from Jacob Zuma after he resigned from office this year.
Source: Africafeeds.com
