Worried over reports of violence against Indian-origin people in South Africa, New Delhi on Wednesday reached out to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government, which assured it that the attacks were not racially motivated.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor over phone. Sanjay Bhattacharya, secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), also had a meeting with the High Commissioner of South Africa to India, Joel Sibusiso Ndebele, in New Delhi.
Jaishankar discussed with Pandor the reports about Indians and Indian-origin South Africans being targeted in Durban, Johannesburg and several other cities in her country.
The unrest was triggered by protests and counter-protests over-incarceration of Ramaphosa’s predecessor Jacob Zuma, who recently started serving a 15-month-long prison term for defying a court order and refusing to testify in connection with a probe into alleged corruption during his stint in the office of the President of South from 2009 to 2018.
Over 70 people were killed and a large number of shops and houses were burned and looted across South Africa.
South Africa assured India that the Ramaphosa was doing its utmost to enforce law and order and asserted that early restoration of normalcy and peace was its overriding priority, a source in New Delhi said.
Regarding reports of arson and looting against Indians and Indian-origin South Africans, the South African side conveyed that opportunistic elements were taking advantage of the situation to engage in looting and violence. They emphasized that the ongoing events were criminal in nature and not political or racially motivated.
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