Nigerian and South African lawmakers clashed at the 55th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Africa Region Conference in Lilongwe, Malawi, over how to officially describe recent violent attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa.
More than 300 legislators and officials from across the continent are attending the conference, which was convened to discuss democracy, governance and human rights. The session turned confrontational when Nigerian delegates insisted that attacks on foreigners in South Africa be formally labelled “xenophobia” in the conference record, arguing that avoiding the term obscures targeted discrimination against African migrants. South African representatives rejected the characterisation, arguing instead that any regional discussion should focus on illegal immigration and enforcement of local immigration law. No unified statement was reached by the end of the exchange.
The clash reflects tensions that have built between the two countries for months. Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, accused South Africa’s government in June of failing to forcefully condemn violence against Nigerian nationals, after at least two Nigerian men died in a wave of attacks in April, including one man beaten by South African National Defence Force officers. South Africa’s government has said it condemns xenophobia and related intolerance, while insisting that criminal activity cannot justify vigilante violence against foreign nationals, a position its justice minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane’s counterpart Ronald Lamola, reiterated during a high-level bilateral meeting on the issue last month.
The Lilongwe exchange underscored that African legislatures remain divided not just on how to respond to violence against migrants, but on the basic terminology used to describe it.
