Xeno attacks: S.A High Commissioner's 'create jobs' comments were misunderstood - Deputy

The Deputy South African High Commissioner to Ghana Thapelo Madumane says his boss' comments about African leaders creating jobs for their nationals has been highly misunderstood by Ghanaians.

The South African High Commissioner to Ghana Lulu Xingwana has received a lot of backlashes after she said African governments must create jobs for their citizens to discourage them from travelling to South Africa for greener pastures.

“And this starts from poverty, all of our countries must create jobs and opportunities for their people so that we don’t all flock to one country because the one country would not be able to cope. If all of us were coming to Ghana, would you cope? Would you?” she said on Starr FM.

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The SA High Commission held a press conference in Accra on Thursday, September 5, 2019, to clarify the comments made by Lulu Xingwana.

Deputy South African High Commissioner to Ghana Thapelo Madumane who addressed the press says his boss meant well.

“That is a misunderstanding of the statement of the High commissioner. Most of the time when she engages with the media and her visitors and all that, she talks about the need to create employment and all that. the High Commissioner was a minister for agriculture, she was a minister for women and gender. So she sometimes approach these things looking at the most vulnerable in the society.

“So what she was talking about was like the policies you have here, the planting for food and jobs, rearing for food and jobs. what does that do? it create jobs, it creates jobs in the rural areas and as such it stops migration. So she was attesting to that, not that government should create jobs and their people should not go to South Africa. South Africa will continue to need skilled labour. We are part of the African community so whatever migration patterns that we have on the continent we cannot be secluded somewhere,” he said.

South Africans have for the days taken to attacking foreign businessmen, looting, burning and vandalizing of shops in fresh xenophobic attacks.

Meanwhile, the South African Police has arrested about a hundred and eighty persons (180) in connection with the violence.

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