A report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) indicates that three Nigerians, alongside other foreigners, were injured in a new round of attacks in South Africa.
Reports say the incidents took place in different locations of Witbank, Mpumalanga Province.
About five Nigerian owned businesses were attacked, vandalized and burnt in the attacks which occurred on Tuesday.
Following the attack, Nigerian Consul General in Johannesburg, Godwin Adama called on the authorities to ensure the protection of Nigerians and their properties.
“The mission intervened this morning and the situation is currently under control. After this, a meeting with Nigerians along with the police will hold (sic),” the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission said in a tweet.
The chairman of an association called the Nigerian Citizens South Africa, Ben Okoli, told The Nation that the attacks were unprovoked and unwarranted.
“In the meeting with the police, we informed them that it was totally unacceptable to us as a nation that people should not have been allowed to take the laws into their hands unless the country has become lawless. We demanded the protection of the lives of our people in the province and elsewhere in the country,” The Nation quoted Okoli as saying.
The attacks come less than a month after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari visited South Africa to reinforce the bonds between the two countries after a wave of deadly riots and xenophobic attacks.
Those attacks left at least 12 people dead and many others injured, prompting Nigeria to recall its high commissioner to the country. The West African nation also evacuated around 500 of its citizens living there.
