African nations must prevent citizens from entering SA – Mugabe

 
African nations must prevent their citizens from migrating to South Africa in order to curb xenophobic attacks that have flared up in parts of the country in recent weeks, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told reporters on Wednesday.
Mugabe attended the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit called to discuss industrialisation yesterday, along with South African President Jacob Zuma and other delegates.
While avoiding the topic of xenophobia during his opening address at the summit, he told reporters after it he was “shocked and disgusted” at the recent wave of violence against foreign nationals.
Mugabe said 800 Zimbabweans had been repatriated from Durban but most of them have already indicated they intend to return to the country once the violence has stopped.
“The people who are described as influx into South Africa are not pushed by governments,” said Mugabe.
“They are people who voluntarily go to South Africa. They think South Africa is the heaven, our heaven in southern Africa.”
He said other countries in Africa needed to stop their citizens from travelling to South Africa to prevent violence against them.
“I was suggesting that we, the neighbours, must do what we can to prevent more people going into South Africa. If we can do it, we can then try to get those in South Africa home,” said Mugabe.
“So people should get back to their own countries. It’s not just one for South Africa to resolve but for us, we the neighbouring countries, to resolve. Our people should not have the instinct of rushing into South Africa.”
During the summit, Zuma briefed the African leaders on the violence and the government’s efforts to arrest the situation to prevent more loss of life.
According to the presidency, the summit condemned the attacks, but also commended South Africa for the measures put in place to address the attacks and resolved to work together to ensure it does not happen again.
In the past month seven people have been killed in Durban and Johannesburg, and hundreds others have been arrested. As a result, the government has deployed soldiers to the hotspots in attempt to keep the peace.
Image source: The Presidency/ Facebook