JOHANNESBURG, April 24 (Reuters) – South African authorities promised on Friday to crack down on anyone carrying out xenophobic attacks on Ghanaians and other foreign nationals, a day after Ghana protested over videos of violent incidents circulating on social media.
Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, summoned South Africa’s envoy on Thursday and called for an “intervention … to prevent further escalation”.
Campaigners for migrant rights say foreigners have been scapegoated in South Africa for its economic woes.
Ablakwa expressed concern over an incident in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province where a Ghanaian national was confronted, asked to provide proof of his legal status and told to leave and “fix his country”, his ministry said on X.
South Africa’s police ministry said in a statement that all those found participating in or inciting xenophobic acts would be identified, apprehended and brought before the courts.
“Acts of lawlessness, intimidation and violence against migrant communities have no place in our constitutional democracy,” South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ronald Lamola, told a meeting of government officials.
Violence against migrants was a threat to South Africa’s constitutional order, Lamola added. The police asked community leaders and civil society groups to help prevent further attacks and promote dialogue.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov, Nilutpal Timsina and Anathi Madubela; Editing by Alexander Winning and Andrew Heavens)
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