Netwerk24 reports that following the anti-Xenophobic protests outside the consulate and at the South African High Commission in Abuja, the South African government has closed its consulate in Lagos, Nigeria. Their consul general in Nigeria, Sam Monaisa, said in an e-mail to the South African business forum in that country that the closure would remain in force until Thursday.
The situation in Durban had calmed down, but he was concerned about the Nigerians that were being repatriated, he wrote. Nigerians were using social media to blow an already tense situation in South Africa out of proportion and stoking emotions.
This was why Nigerians maintained that their compatriots were being killed in South Africa daily, he said. He warned the forum’s members to stay alert and not move around unnecessarily. South African businesses and citizens became targets of threats and acts of retaliation whenever xenophobic attacks occurred in South Africa, he cautioned.