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Ramaphosa battles with African migrant backlash

President Cyril Ramaphosa spent much of the weekend trying to do damage control in the wake of a backlash from African countries over the recent xenophobic attacks, including winning over an irate crowd at an official funeral service for former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.

Ramaphosa has sent highranking emissaries on a mission to reassure leaders of the countries after the violence, mainly targeting African immigrants, heightened diplomatic tension between SA and its trading partners on the continent.

The attacks, which left at least 12 people dead, and prompted retaliatory attacks against SA businesses on the continent, coincided with several protests against gender-based violence following the rape and murder of a Cape Town university student.

RAMAPHOSA HAS SENT HIGH-RANKING EMISSARIES ON A MISSION TO REASSURE AFRICAN COUNTRIES AFTER THE VIOLENCE

The riots prompted Ramaphosa to cancel his appearance at the recent World Economic Forum for Africa’s session in Cape Town, where SA was hoping to showcase itself and attract much-needed investment, to address a crowd protesting against gender-based violence.

The president is skipping next week’s UN General Assembly to focus on “critical issues” at home, such as putting urgent measures in place against gender-based violence, restoring public order and stability and overseeing initiatives to turn around the economy.

Ramaphosa, however, made time on Saturday to speak at the official send-off ceremony for Mugabe, whom he hailed as a friend of SA for standing by the ANC in the fight against apartheid.

His speech at a stadium in Harare on the legacy of the controversial leader was initially drowned out by jeers and boos after the wave of anti-immigrant attacks, prompting the master of ceremonies to appeal to the crowd to give the SA president a chance to speak.

Ramaphosa then directly addressed the crowd, apologising on behalf of South African citizens.

“We have had acts of violence erupting in some parts of our country, some of which was directed at nationals from our African countries,” he said.

“This has led, as I can hear you are responding to, to the

deaths and injuries of a number of people, some of whom were nationals from other countries and a majority were South Africans. I stand before you, as a fellow African to express my regret and to apologise for what has happened in our country,” he said, drawing wild cheers from the crowd.

Ramaphosa said what had happened in SA “goes against the unity of the African people that Mugabe, president Nelson Mandela, [late ANC and SA president] Oliver Tambo and leaders of our great continent stood for.”

On Sunday, his office said that a team of special envoys appointed by the president had left on Saturday to deliver messages of solidarity to several heads of state and governments across Africa.

The team will visit Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

“The special envoys are tasked with reassuring fellow African countries that SA is committed to the ideals of pan-African unity and solidarity. The special envoys will also reaffirm SA’s commitment to the rule of law,” the presidency said.

Companies such as MTN and MultiChoice’s operations outside SA were hit by retaliatory attacks due to the outbreak of violence.

People in Nigeria reportedly turned on SA-owned businesses such as Shoprite in retaliation to the violence against foreign nationals in parts of Pretoria and Johannesburg.

MTN’s stores and service centres in Nigeria were temporarily closed as a precaution, while pay-TV operator MultiChoice had to close some of its offices in Nigeria and Zambia at the height of tensions.

COMPANIES SUCH AS MTN AND MULTICHOICE’S OPERATIONS OUTSIDE SA WERE HIT BY RETALIATORY ATTACKS