The South African Consul-General to Nigeria, Prof. Bobby Moroe, has rejected the description of attacks against foreigners in South Africa as “xenophobia”.

This was just as he insisted that South Africans are not inherently hostile to migrants.

Moroe stated this during an interview on Nigerian Info FM while responding to concerns over the safety of Nigerians travelling to South Africa amid recurring reports of violence against foreign nationals.

The diplomat assured Nigerians that South Africa remained open to tourists, business travellers and other visitors, urging those planning to visit the country to obtain valid visas and comply with its immigration laws.

“I just want to give reassurance that South Africa is open for business, South Africa is open for tourism and South Africa is open for any other form of visit,” Moroe said.

He also dismissed reports that South African diplomatic missions in Nigeria had stopped issuing visas to Nigerians, describing such claims as untrue.

“It is also untrue to suggest that South African missions in Nigeria do not offer visas to Nigerians anymore. And I want to give assurance to Nigerians that it is safe to travel to South Africa,” he said.

Moroe advised Nigerians travelling to the country to ensure they possessed valid visas and familiarised themselves with South African laws, stressing that visitors had both rights and responsibilities.

“It is everybody’s responsibility to ensure that before you travel, you ensure that you have your visa, you comply with the immigration laws of the country, you become a good ambassador of your country,” he said.

“When you get to South Africa, you know and understand your rights, but you must also familiarize yourself with the laws of the country.”

The envoy further stated that the South African government was committed to protecting everyone within its territory, regardless of their immigration status.

According to him, even undocumented migrants are entitled to protection under the South African Constitution.

Addressing the history of attacks involving foreigners, particularly Nigerians, Moroe disputed the characterisation of such incidents as xenophobic attacks.

“There’s no xenophobia in South Africa,” he said when asked about the issue.

When reminded that Nigerians had previously been victims of attacks described as xenophobic, Moroe maintained his position.

“You know, I will not call it a name now, but it is not xenophobia,” he said.

He attributed some of the grievances behind attacks involving foreign nationals to socioeconomic challenges facing South Africans, including unemployment, inequality and poverty.

However, he stressed that the government did not condone violence as a means of addressing such grievances.

“South Africans are raising genuine issues of unemployment, inequality, and poverty, but for them to raise them in a violent manner, it’s something that the government rejects,” Moroe said.

The Consul-General also criticised the repeated use of the word “xenophobia” in describing incidents involving foreigners in South Africa, arguing that the terminology had contributed to a negative image of the country.

“The nomenclature xenophobia has become synonymous with South Africa,” he said.

Moroe claimed that similar incidents involving foreigners in other African countries were often described differently, arguing that the repeated labelling of South Africa as xenophobic had fuelled division between African countries.

“So this is a nomenclature created probably by the media in order to sow divisions between the two countries,” he said.

“And the unfortunate part is that we have fallen into that trap and we follow that narrative rather than correcting it and working together in order to demystify the stigma attached to the notion that South Africans are xenophobic.”

He argued that the presence of a large migrant population in South Africa was evidence that the country remained open to foreigners.

“South Africans are not xenophobic. Otherwise you would not be having the number of migrants that are there in South Africa,” Moroe said.

“Now, South Africa is host to the highest number of migrants in Africa, both legal and illegal.”

Moroe further said the South African government had created opportunities for migrants to regularise their stay through extensions of visas and permits.

“Our government has always been tolerant and giving provisions for extension of visas, extension of permits to this, but nobody talks about that,” he said.

The diplomat urged Nigerians not to allow reports circulating on social media to discourage them from visiting South Africa.

He advised prospective visitors to exercise normal caution, understand their legal rights and responsibilities, and familiarise themselves with law enforcement facilities in the areas they intend to visit.

“I can assure you and the listeners that it is safe to travel to South Africa,” Moroe said.

“We are quite comfortable and we have no doubt that a lot of Nigerians who still want to visit South Africa for whatever reason can still go there.”