More than 80 people have been arrested in connection with recent Afrophobia attacks in South Africa, the country’s Consul General to Nigeria, Prof Bobby Moroe, has said. Moroe disclosed this on Thursday at a breakfast forum organised by the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, amid continuing concerns over violence against African migrants.
The forum, themed “The Future of Nigeria-South Africa Bilateral Relations in a Changing World,” brought attention to the security of African migrants and the broader relationship between Nigeria and South Africa. Moroe said investigations into the attacks remained ongoing and indicated that additional arrests could follow as law enforcement agencies continue their inquiries.
The South African envoy stressed that the country’s laws protect the rights of individuals and that no person has the right to violate another person’s rights. He said the government would not allow human rights abuses of the kind recently witnessed to occur without consequences for those responsible.
“South African government is always ready and prepared to provide support to all those who have been victims, but most importantly to prevent the recurrence of the current violations of human rights in South Africa,” he said.
Moroe said South African law enforcement agencies were continuing to arrest and prosecute individuals linked to the attacks. He added that constitutional protections applied to both citizens and non-citizens, regardless of their immigration status.
“Whether regular or irregular migrant, the South African Constitution guarantees you protection,” he added.
Addressing suggestions that violence against migrants could be linked to electoral cycles, Moroe said the government’s focus was on protecting people and property rather than the political timing of such incidents. He said individuals retained constitutional rights to participate in political activities, whether as members of ruling or opposition parties.
The development comes as the African Union Executive Council declined to adopt Ghana’s request to place violence against African migrants in South Africa on the agenda for its October Summit. The disagreement emerged during an AU Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where Ghana raised the issue during Wednesday’s executive meeting.
Ghana had proposed that the treatment of African migrants in South Africa be discussed at the mid-year coordination meeting scheduled for October in Egypt. However, the proposal was not adopted after South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, argued that the issue required a broader continental forum.
Pretoria maintained that the coordination meeting, which involves 12 heads of state representing the AU Bureau and regional blocs, was not the appropriate platform for an issue of such scope. Lamola said South Africa was already engaging the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its refugee and asylum seeker mandate holders.
He also referred to a 2015 AU Assembly decision and a 2019 Peace and Security Council communique, both of which called for a dedicated continental migration conference. South Africa urged the Council to revive the proposal, leaving disagreement over how and where migrant violence should be addressed unresolved.
