Nigeria Wants To Shutdown South African Businesses Over Xenophobic Attacks

JOHANNESBURG – The South African
government has been given 48 hours to
stop xenophobic attacks on foreign
nationals and their shops or else their
companies abroad will be shut down.
An official with the newly elected All
Progressive Congress (APC), Tolu
Adesanya, confirmed to eNCA that they
handed down a memorandum to the
South African embassy in Lagos on
Wednesday.
In the memorandum, the APC party
officials and members of civil society
groups have demanded that South Africa
take swift action against attacks on
foreign nationals.
Adesanya said that Nigeria will shut
down South African businesses if their
demands are not met by South Africa.
“We actually handed a letter to the
South African embassy yesterday,
making them aware that we are not
happy with what is going on in South
Africa. Should there be any more attacks,
we are going to shut down South African
businesses in Nigeria. That is MTN, Multi
Choice, Shoprite etc,” said APC official
Tolu Adesanya.
APC officials and civil rights groups
planned to march to a South African
embassy on Thursday.
Thursday’s march has been supported
by African Diaspora Forum.
ADF’s Vice Chairman Jean-Pierre
Lukamba told eNCA that “actually they
(Nigerians) don’t have a choice”.
South African companies in other African
countries include cellphone company
MTN, retail giant Shoprite, and satellite
TV provider Multi Choice among others.
Cement Company AfriSam has branches
in Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Lesotho
and Swaziland and other countries.
MTN’s Group Executive for Corporate
Affairs in South Africa said that the
South African mobile company “is
condemning what is happening in South
Africa.”
“MTN cannot condone any acts of
violence against any people be it foreign
nationals. We believe that more could
still be done to ensure general safety of
people in South Africa,” said MTN’s
group Executive for Corporate Affairs,
Chris Maroleng.
Markets and Investment analyst Clive
Ramathibela-Smith has said that attacks
on foreign owned businesses could lead
to a serious crisis.
“Foreign investment is very critical.
Based on our GDP, South Africa receives
over half a trillion rands of foreign
investments on yearly basis. That means
that when we actually don’t look good to
the international market that we have a
problem to answer to other foreign
countries.”
An associate Professor at Wits’ school of
Economic and Business Sciences, Chris
William Callaghan, said xenophobia is
sending a message that the world
should stop investing in South Africa.