Over 80 people have been arrested in connection with the recent Afrophobia attacks in South Africa, and more arrests are coming.

In a major update, South Africa's Consul General to Nigeria, Professor Bobby Moroe, has confirmed that South African law enforcement has cracked down hard on the perpetrators behind the recent wave of Afrophobia attacks.

Speaking at the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, themed "The Future of Nigeria-South Africa Bilateral Relations in a Changing World", Prof Moroe revealed that investigations are still ongoing.

According to him, the South African government will not sit back and watch human rights being trampled upon. He stressed that under South African law, no one has the right to violate another person's rights, and the current administration is determined to ensure the perpetrators face justice.

He also disclosed that a faction of the group known as March to March has broken away, saying they wanted to give the government space to continue its work, including arresting and prosecuting offenders.

His words: "The 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... I can assure you, my sisters and my brothers, that the law is taking its course in South Africa."

On suggestions that such attacks flare up around election periods, Moroe said the government's priority remains protecting lives and property, whether citizens or non-citizens, regular or irregular migrants, as guaranteed by the South African Constitution.

Meanwhile, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Union Executive Council has declined Ghana's request to put violence against African migrants in South Africa on the agenda for its October Summit in Egypt.

Ghana had raised the issue during the AU Executive meeting on Wednesday, but South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, countered that the mid-year coordination meeting, which involves only 12 Heads of State, was not the right forum for an issue of this magnitude.

Lamola noted that Pretoria is already engaging the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights ahead of a planned visit by its rapporteur, and has proposed instead that the AU finally convene a long-awaited standalone continental conference on migration, as called for in a 2015 AU Assembly decision and a 2019 Peace and Security Council communique.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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