SA contains fallout as riots upstage key economic summit

Botswana's president Mokgweetsi Masisi, Zimbabwe's president , Emmerson Mnangagwa and Namibia's president Hage Geingob talk before the start of a session at the World Economic Forum(WEF) Africa meeting at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. [AFP]

South Africa’s government said yesterday that prejudice was a factor in deadly rioting that has targeted foreign businesses, as those attacks and reprisals overshadowed a pan-African economic conference it is hosting for a second day.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had hoped the World Economic Forum summit would serve as a shop window for his efforts to revive South Africa’s ailing economy and boost intra-African trade.

But the backdrop of a week of anti-immigrant violence, during which at least seven people have been killed and hundreds of arrests been made, has dominated proceedings.

While the victims’ nationalities have not been made public, the rioting has above all exposed dormant tensions between the host country and Nigeria, the continent’s two biggest economies.

On Thursday Jim Ovia, chairman of Nigeria’s Zenith Bank and a co-chair of the whole Cape Town event, withdrew, citing the “hypersensitivity of the issues surrounding the lives and well-being of Nigerian citizens living in South Africa.” Nigeria, whose vice president had boycotted the summit on Wednesday, also recalled its High Commissioner to South Africa.

But on Thursday the highest-profile absentee was Ramaphosa himself who, as his ministers sought to manage the fallout, cancelled his appearance at the WEF plenary session to address a crowd protesting for a second day about violence against women.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said most South Africans disapproved of attacks on foreigners and the principle of freedom of movement for the continent’s citizens was key.

In eSwatini, the National Agricultural Marketing Board said trucks that normally carry farm produce south across the border were being kept in their depot after advice from South African counterparts that it was not safe to travel.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed that things will normalise by next week,” said NAMBoard Agribusiness Manager Tammy Dlamini. Central Bank data yesterday showed South Africa’s trade balance swung to a deficit in the second quarter while current account deficit widened.