South African govt should be held responsible for xenophobic attacks – NLC

With condemnations still trailing the waves of xenophobic attacks in some South African cities, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged nations of the world and Nigeria to hold the South African government responsible for the criminal act.

Some non-governmental organisations, civil society groups and labour have staged protests in Abuja to condemn the burning, looting of shop belonging to foreign nationals and loss of lives since the attacks began in South Africa some three weeks ago.

Ayuba Wabba, the factionalised president of the NLC, in a statement made available to BusinessDay on Wednesday, urged the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU) to “hold the South African government responsible for the safety of all immigrants.”

Wabba said the attacks lacked justifications. “It is even more absurd that the attacks are directed against Africans from countries that played active roles in the struggle against apartheid.”

“That the immigrants left their countries to do legitimate businesses or engage in legitimate employment in South Africa is certainly not their fault. They should be seen as partners in the developmental strides of the country. The challenges of unemployment of South African citizens is not caused by the presence of the immigrants and the South African government should develop policies that can generate employment for its citizens as quickly as possible as this will help promote peace and economic growth in favour of the country.